The ubiquitous Hermann Wimmer from Regensburg, Germany some 100 km from Munich, sets the pace from the opening squad of the 2010 Malta Senior Open at the hospitable Eden SuperBowl in St. Julians, the entertainment capital of this fantastic mid-Mediterranean island.

Being a senior aged 67, Wimmer, champion of many senior events throughout Europe, receives 11 pins per game bonus added to his scratch score of 1253, giving him first place on the leaderboard with 1319, the only score so far over the 1300 mark.

Just four women have taken to the lanes so far and top of the list is Inger Petersson from Sweden with 1064. Sadly, there are only eleven women in this year's field and as eight go through to Sunday's round robin just three will fall by the wayside, one of which will be Swede Christine Svaard who has an arm injury and had had to pull out of this year's tournament.

The format calls for 12 games in two blocks of six with an opportunity to re-enter to change on six-game entry.

The top 24 men after the qualifying round will advance to the second round then the cut to eight for the round robin. From that, the leading four will contest the stepladder final. The same format applies for the women's field.

Thursday and Friday will see qualifying squads at 09:00, 13:00 and 17:00 and the final rounds will fill Saturday and Sunday.

The second squad of the day Ian Lindsay from England was the strongest challenger to Wimmer but he fell 161 pins short of taking over the lead with 1159. Second on this squad was Paul Gay from the beautiful island of Jersey, 16 pins aback of Lindsay.

So Lindsay slots into fourth place in the overall standings after the first two squads but there is a new leader in the ladies' division as Finland's Hennele Uotila, mother of the Finnish international Pasi Uotila, rolled 1089 with previous front-runner Petersson holding second place with 1064.

17:00 will see the final squad of this opening day.

Thursday's third squad saw action from defending champion Rosario Bellomonte from Palermo, Sicily, and 2008 champion Chris Vandamme from Knokke, Belgium, the only competitor that has won the Malta Open and the Malta Senior Open. The latter within weeks of turning the age of 50.

Fortune favored the Italian as he finished his first six-game block with 246, plus his eleven pin age bonus for a total of 261 and a series 1239, but he did not overtake early tournament leader Wimmer with his lead with 1319. Vandamme  has the high scratch game so far with 257.

Vandamme struggled on what for him was a difficult lane condition and he came home with 1227.

Stig Hermansson from Sweden heads the leaderboard for those who have competed the full qualifying twelve games, posting 2417 as the total for the followers to beat.

There are only three players to have gone the complete course, all Swedes: Hermansson, Christer Svard (2066) and Jan Enquist (2010).

For the demure ladies. Swede Inger Petterson tops the table for twelve games, 18 pins better than second placed Berit Karlsson, the 2002 Malta Senior Open. These are the only two to complete the 12-game stint.

The next squad will be at 09:00 on Friday morning for those of the early-rising kind.

STANDINGS AFTER SQUAD 3:

P	Name	Nat	HC	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Scr	Ave	Tot
1	Stig Hermansson	SWE	132	167	211	236	173	239	183	161	148	182	195	240	150	2285	190	2417
2	Christer Svard	SWE	120	186	192	200	149	191	175	139	145	132	146	143	148	1946	162	2066
3	Jan Enquist	SWE	72	164	165	214	146	140	175	151	147	125	172	157	182	1938	162	2010
4	Hermann Wimmer	GER	66	180	173	233	190	223	254	0	0	0	0	0	0	1253	209	1319
5	Rosario Bellomonte	ITA	90	188	157	187	167	204	246	0	0	0	0	0	0	1149	192	1239
6	Jurgen Press	GER	42	167	245	215	209	200	155	0	0	0	0	0	0	1191	199	1233
7	Chris Vandamme	BEL	0	203	174	173	257	238	182	0	0	0	0	0	0	1227	205	1227
8	Brian Wilkins	ENG	42	237	192	196	192	195	169	0	0	0	0	0	0	1181	197	1223
9	Terry Richards	WAL	42	168	166	222	183	191	193	0	0	0	0	0	0	1123	187	1165
10	Ian Lindsay	ENG	60	183	214	170	164	191	177	0	0	0	0	0	0	1099	183	1159
11	Paul Gay	JER	36	193	201	188	179	189	157	0	0	0	0	0	0	1107	185	1143
12	Emilio Ruggiero	ITA	18	212	178	164	194	171	199	0	0	0	0	0	0	1118	186	1136
13	Brandon Lane	ENG	0	133	222	194	170	212	203	0	0	0	0	0	0	1134	189	1134
14	Gunnar Haugen	NOR	72	156	151	196	161	194	199	0	0	0	0	0	0	1057	176	1129
15	Bobby Irwin	USA	0	237	166	163	182	180	188	0	0	0	0	0	0	1116	186	1116
16	Ron Bryant	ENG	42	159	178	199	182	145	193	0	0	0	0	0	0	1056	176	1098
17	Sammy Borg	MLT	18	170	181	201	171	171	180	0	0	0	0	0	0	1074	179	1092
18	Rauli Raita	FIN	30	201	193	138	169	181	175	0	0	0	0	0	0	1057	176	1087
19	Tim Basher	ENG	18	163	179	186	166	217	155	0	0	0	0	0	0	1066	178	1084
20	John Balani	MLT	0	180	213	180	157	161	181	0	0	0	0	0	0	1072	179	1072
21	Ignazio Cerami	ITA	24	167	157	145	159	209	204	0	0	0	0	0	0	1041	174	1065
22	Roy Swift	MLT	90	163	183	128	207	151	142	0	0	0	0	0	0	974	162	1064
23	Tapani Kiviranta	FIN	30	168	157	214	152	166	177	0	0	0	0	0	0	1034	172	1064
24	Roger Olofsson	SWE	0	158	174	169	165	195	201	0	0	0	0	0	0	1062	177	1062
25	Steve Carnall	ENG	0	181	167	171	157	216	168	0	0	0	0	0	0	1060	177	1060
26	Alan Hanafin	ENG	0	170	169	177	174	167	200	0	0	0	0	0	0	1057	176	1057
27	Keith Howes	ENG	90	152	166	140	149	158	198	0	0	0	0	0	0	963	161	1053
28	David Piper	ENG	48	210	137	161	160	160	176	0	0	0	0	0	0	1004	167	1052
29	Tony Paris	MLT	0	188	179	159	192	158	172	0	0	0	0	0	0	1048	175	1048
30	Ken Burton	ENG	30	155	160	169	185	183	165	0	0	0	0	0	0	1017	170	1047
31	Pat Byrne	ENG	18	165	161	178	165	184	170	0	0	0	0	0	0	1023	171	1041
32	Leli Baldacchino	MLT	0	189	157	179	196	177	141	0	0	0	0	0	0	1039	173	1039
33	Ray Harrison	ENG	42	166	141	188	161	187	154	0	0	0	0	0	0	997	166	1039
34	Michael Mulcahy	IRL	90	160	168	145	158	156	157	0	0	0	0	0	0	944	157	1034
35	Magnar Dyrnes	NOR	48	176	163	144	164	155	177	0	0	0	0	0	0	979	163	1027
36	Dave Montgomery	ENG	36	217	148	146	159	160	154	0	0	0	0	0	0	984	164	1020
37	Ron Griffin	ENG	0	135	178	162	171	162	210	0	0	0	0	0	0	1018	170	1018
38	Reg Eccles	ENG	36	149	183	147	156	172	174	0	0	0	0	0	0	981	164	1017
39	Giancarlo Tolu	MLT	0	189	153	178	169	164	162	0	0	0	0	0	0	1015	169	1015
40	Sebastiano Bellanca	ITA	0	145	180	171	156	167	178	0	0	0	0	0	0	997	166	997
41	Alby Bowden	ENG	72	164	146	122	127	164	196	0	0	0	0	0	0	919	153	991
42	Ian Horrell	SCO	18	137	134	202	163	167	169	0	0	0	0	0	0	972	162	990
43	Fred Podt	NED	0	165	155	169	158	171	169	0	0	0	0	0	0	987	165	987
44	Benny Hili	MLT	0	137	171	202	139	176	156	0	0	0	0	0	0	981	164	981
45	Roger Hunter	ENG	12	155	154	153	212	144	148	0	0	0	0	0	0	966	161	978
46	Francesco Morabito	ITA	18	146	171	190	146	145	156	0	0	0	0	0	0	954	159	972
47	Norbert Peelman	BEL	0	129	162	165	158	176	163	0	0	0	0	0	0	953	159	953
48	Jeff Platten	ENG	0	213	106	157	159	155	147	0	0	0	0	0	0	937	156	937
49	Bill Wadsworth	ENG	84	148	146	132	129	138	131	0	0	0	0	0	0	824	137	908
50	Colin Crouch	ENG	12	127	166	170	137	120	137	0	0	0	0	0	0	857	143	869
51	Mario Palmisano	ITA	0	158	115	133	123	150	161	0	0	0	0	0	0	840	140	840
52	Simon Ferrow	JER	66	143	122	111	97	136	114	0	0	0	0	0	0	723	121	789
53	Domenico Incardona	ITA	18	103	103	98	116	132	110	0	0	0	0	0	0	662	110	680

WOMEN:

P	Name	Nat	HC	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Scr	Ave	Tot
1	Inger Petersson	SWE	108	152	189	197	184	168	158	141	171	183	169	168	178	2058	172	2166
2	Berit Karlsson	SWE	180	188	152	159	209	159	145	173	162	158	154	173	136	1968	164	2148
3	Hannele Uotila	FIN	30	169	172	164	160	183	211	0	0	0	0	0	0	1059	177	1089
4	Kaz Barfoot	ENG	30	158	171	185	172	157	148	0	0	0	0	0	0	991	165	1021
5	Liz Pond	ENG	54	145	167	176	181	133	145	0	0	0	0	0	0	947	158	1001
6	Liz Griffin	ENG	12	187	146	154	154	171	176	0	0	0	0	0	0	988	165	1000
7	Lynne Palmer	ENG	24	168	136	145	146	194	166	0	0	0	0	0	0	955	159	979
8	Angie Brown	ENG	0	174	160	161	163	115	168	0	0	0	0	0	0	941	157	941
9	Josephine Borg	MLT	6	116	172	159	160	130	169	0	0	0	0	0	0	906	151	912