Martin Larsen (pictured) from Sweden and Team USA's Derek Eoff overtook the lead in the men's division after day one qualifying in the 44th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup at Bol 300 in Hermosillo, Mexico.

Larsen started with five games between 228 and 241 (234, 237, 234, 228, 241) and closed out his six game series with a 198 game to become the early leader of the men's preliminaries with 1372 and an average of 228.67.

"I know the World Cup is a very long format and I wanted to focus on throwing a good ball, not chasing strikes but making my spares," Larsen said afterwards. "And then I missed a single pin in the very first frame! After that, it went well and I am very pleased with my game today."

Eoff (pictured) led Squad A after three games with 721 (217, 263, 241) and finished with 210, 195 and 214 for 1340 pinfall total to beat out Squad B leader Jack Guay from Canada, for second place by three pins.

"The scores on the first squad were lower than I thought they'd be, and if my reaction wasn't the same as it had been in practice, I would've been a lot more nervous," said Eoff. "It's always better to have a good start than have to come from behind later. I posted a good score, and I'm in a great position right now, but there's still a lot of bowling left."

Despite his final position Sunday, Eoff left one split in each game and knows there's still room for improvement.

"I felt like I bowled pretty well, but I definitely left a lot of pins out there," Eoff said. "I paid the price for my bad shots and didn't have any clean games. Hopefully, tomorrow, they will play like they did today. If I can avoid leaving splits, I think I'll be in good shape. I would be very happy with 140 over each block."

Guay (left), who became the first player in the history of the BWC to hit a perfect game in 1994 edition, also in Hermosillo, slipped to third place with 1337.

Paul Stott, Ireland, who finished his set with 248, was mere two pins behind to overtake fourth place with 1335.

Squad B runner-up Zulmazran Zulkifli (right), Malaysia, fell to fifth place with 1323. Rodolfo Corona, Mexico and George Frilingos, Australia, were tied for sixth place with 1315.

Luis Rodriguez, Puerto Rico leaped into 8th place in Squad A with 1311.

Rounding out the top 10 were Nikita Koshelev (left), Russia, and Roman Fürbacher, Austria, with 1310 and 1304, respectively.

The men are done for today and will return Monday for the second qualifying block (Squad A at 8 a.m. and Squad B at noon).

All competitors will bowl four six-game blocks (24 games overall) over four days before the field is cut to the top 24 on Wednesday. Advancing players will bowl an additional eight games on Thursday, Nov. 13 before the field is cut to the top 8.

The remaining players will bowl eight games of round robin match play with bonus points on Friday morning to determine the top 3 for Friday's stepladder finals.