Qualifying A Squad – Seventeen bowlers checked in to the earliest squad at the lanes at the Mackay Leisure Centre for the 2006 Mackay Open. Damien McAndrew set the early pace in A squad with a very nice 696 three game first block closely followed by Steve Hunt, 659, and Martin Krause, 645. Steve Hunt continued his qualifying momentum and moved to the top of the standings sheet with a solid 279 in game nine. By the end of the squad, Hunt had secured his spot on top of the standings with a 212 average, +184, followed by a strong finishing Gavin Cavanagh, +127, McAndrew, +78 and Shaun Dunn, +40, being the only other bowlers to record averages over the card.

Qualifying B Squad – Nineteen bowlers formed this squad, including the 2005 Mackay Open Defending Champion George Frilingos and fellow Australian team mate Brandon Qualischefski. Not to be outdone, the best in B Squad started in the same fashion as their predecessors. First block scores by Angelo Nucifora, 682, and Stephen Ellul, 657 set the pace for the rest of the squad to chase down. Qualischefski reached +100 after just 6 games closing in on Nucifora at +141 and by game nine 9 the difference was only 9 pins. Qualischefski surged to the top of the leader board after games of 234, 237 & 251 in the 4th block with a 119 pin lead over Nucifora now at +196. Qualischefski improved no further finishing the squad with 220 average, +314, to lead the way, followed by Nucifora, +222, a fast finishing Frilingos, +155 and Paul Chown, +154.

Qualifying C Squad – Eighteen entrants filled this squad which saw Louise Cavanagh start with a 638 first block series, closely followed by youngster Luke Green, +35, John Dunn, +31 and Robbie Buckley at +30. Youth bowler Tiffany Bowdler was the big improver in the 2nd block with games of 268, 202 & 203 moving into 10th position while Green, +28, and Buckley, +6, steadied. Game 8 saw Robbie Buckley bowl a 289 game following on from his tournament high 290 game in the first block and firming his spot on the top 10. After the 15 games of qualifying Buckley topped the squad, and second overall, with a 215 average at +236.

Qualifying order, pins +/- and average:
1, QUALISCHEFSKI Brandon, +314, 220.93
2, BUCKLEY Rob, +236, 215.73
3, NUCIFORA Angelo, +222, 214.80
4, HUNT Steve, +184, 212.27
5, FRILINGOS George, +155, 210.33
6, CHOWN Paul, +154, 210.27
7, CAVANAGH Gavin, +127, 208.47
8, ELLUL Stephen, +59, 203.93
9, McANDREW Damien, +48, 203.20
10, DUNN Shaun, +40, 202.67
11, WARREN Dale, +15, 201.00
12, GREEN Luke, +1, 200.07
13, CHAMBERS Paul, -19, 198.73
14, MUSCAT Brendan, -22, 198.53
15, KALUCI Rob, -29, 198.07
16, SODERMAN Daniel, -37, 197.53

The top 16 bowlers from day one qualifying advance through to the matchplay round robin final with qualifying pinfall being dropped. Bonus points of 20 for each win and 10 for each drawn game will be added to each bowler’s matchplay pinfall.