Germany's Kai Günther took a surprising lead after day one of the Singles event in the Men's World Championships 2008 at SF Strike Bowl Ngamwongwan in Nonthaburi, Thailand.

Günther, who wasn't nominated for the team event, felled 1,317 pins in the first of three squads today, an average of 219.50 over six games, to lead a field of 200 (out of total 330) players.

Shaking off an uncharacteristic sub-par week, Team USA's Walter Ray Williams Jr. of Ocala, Fla., moved into second place.

The legendary Williams, a Professional Bowlers Association and United States Bowling Congress Hall of Famer, will now wait out the final two preliminary squads on Friday at 9 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. to see if his score remains in the top four to qualify for the event semifinals Friday evening.

Williams posted 1,316 over six games (219.3 avg.) in the first squad on the low-scoring long oil pattern. Günther overtook Williams to lead by one pin, shooting 234 in the final game to Williams' 190.

"The last couple of days I feel like I've been bowling much better," said Williams, who owns a career record 44 Denny's PBA Tour titles. "Today, at least a few pins fell. It's still kind of frustrating, because I did throw a lot of good shots. Hopefully, I can sneak into the medal play."

The 2008 Men's World Championships marks the much anticipated first appearance of professionals in major WTBA competition thanks to a change in legislation last August.

Williams started strong by opening with a 238 game, but soon found trouble - slumping to 161 in the second game on lanes 21 and 22, a pair that hooked slightly more. He quickly recovered, posting 235, 237 and 255 games before Günther passed him in the final frame.

Entering Thursday in 51st place, Williams finished all-events with 5,072 over 24 games - putting him on the bubble to qualify for Saturday's Masters event, featuring the top 16 from all-events.

"I don't know why, but for me knocking pins down in this house is really tough," said Williams, whose struggles were apparent on the short pattern - averaging 209.08 over 12 games. "Relative to everything else, this is the best round I've had. The lane conditions are fairly challenging - the short pattern got a little high-scoring at times, but the long oil pattern is definitely challenging.

"There are a lot of great bowlers out here, outside of the United States. I knew there was, but there are a lot more than I thought. You have to make good shots. Hopefully, this won't be my last appearance at the World Championships."

Third place belongs to Francois Sacco (left), France who led the third squad on Wednesday evening with 1310 (218.33). The long-time French international and 2004 World Games champion in Mixed Doubles came out of the gates quickly with four consecutive 230 games (230, 231, 233 and 235) but finished with 173 and 208 to fell eight pins short of the lead.

Rounding out the top five are Shu Liang-Chen, Chinese Taipei, who was third to Günther and Williams in Squad one with 1283 and Mohamed Yusuf Sultan, Bahrain, who led Squad 2 1276.

Two-time gold medalists Patrick Allen of Wesley Chapel, Fla. and Rhino Page of Topeka, Kan. Are will not win another medal in Singles.

Allen labored on the long pattern Thursday morning - posting 1,095 (182.5 avg.) and finishing all-events at 5,067, also putting him on the Masters bubble. In the evening session, Page shot 1,185 (197.5 avg.) in the third squad, pushing his all-events total to 5,218 (217.42 avg.). Teammate Bill Hoffman of Columbus, Ohio, had 1,193 (198.8 avg.) to finish with 5,034 (209.75 avg.) in all-events.

Singles competition continues Friday with the fourth preliminary squad at 9 a.m. (10 p.m. EDT Thursday), followed by the fifth and final squad at 1:30 p.m. (2:30 a.m. EDT). The top four preliminaries scores advance to the one-game semifinals at 6 p.m. (7 a.m. EDT), with the winners meeting in the one-game gold medal match at 7 p.m. (8 a.m. EDT). The semifinal losers will each receive bronze medals.

The Men's World Championships, which is being held at SF Strike Bowl Ngamwonwan and continues through Saturday, features 330 athletes from 57 countries competing in six disciplines - doubles, trios, team, singles, all-events and Masters.