Team USA member Derek Eoff (left) held on to the lead in the men's division after three rounds of preliminaries at the 44th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup in Hermosillo, Mexico. Eoff averaged 227.66 in the third 6-game block and felled 1366 pins to lead the field of 82 players with 4156 pinfall total and an overall average of 230.89.

"I'm excited about having a lead heading into the last day of qualifying, and even though I have thought ahead a little bit, there are still quite a few games left," Eoff, a first-time World Cup participant, said. "Since the ultimate goal is to make it to the top three, I am very happy with where I am. Now, I just have to throw good shots and stay there."

Jack Guay (right), Canada, moved to second place behind the day-best 1397 series. Guay, the first bowler who rolled a 300 game in the BWC history (1994, Hermosillo) is 103 pins behind Eoff with 4053 (225.17).

Hussain Al Suwaidi fell to third with 4030 (223.89) despite a 1371 effort.

Martin Larsen (left) from Sweden, who led the field of 82 players, all from different countries, after the first block, felled 1374 pins to leap two spots into fourth place with 4005 (222.50).

No other player is as steady as Zulmazran Zulkifli from Malaysia, who was in fifth place after each of the three rounds thus far. Zulkifli finished his block with a 278 game and a score of 1312 for 3965 (220.28) pinfall total.

Rodolfo Corona (right), Mexico, delighted the local supporters when he posted a 1386 series on Tuesday, the second-highest block of the day, to jump from 15th to sixth place with 3938 (218.78).

Paul Stott, Ireland, remained in 7th position with 3916 (217.56), while Jimmy Mortensen (left), Denmark, moved up 10 spots to crack the top 8 with 3907 (217.06).

Finnish national head coach Sami Konsteri is mere 5 pins off the pace for the top 8 in 9th place with 3902 and is followed by Francois Sacco, France, in 10th with 3886.

Luis Rodríguez, Puerto Rico, fell eight spots to 11th place with 3881 behind a 1225 series on Tuesday. Aussie George Frilingos (right) chalked up 1354 to leap from 22nd to 12th place with 3869.

After Wednesday's final six-game block, the field will be cut to the top 24 players in each division. Jonathan Hocsman, Argentina, holds the 24th and final spot to advance with 3734 or an average of 207.44.

Among those, who must make up some or a lot of ground in the next six games are Chris Vandamme, Belgium (25th, 3729), Lee Yu-Wen, Singapore (29th, 3680) Guy Caminsky (left), South Africa (31st, 3650), Mubarak Al Muraikhi , Qatar (tied 32nd, 3649) and Nick Froggatt, England (41st, 3598).

The 24 players, who will survive the first cut, will then bowl eight additional games before the field is cut to the top eight in each division. The top eight will bowl eight games of round-robin match play, after which the top three will advance to the televised stepladder finals.

Competition continues Wednesday with the final women's squad at 8 a.m., followed by men's Squad B at 2 p.m. and the final Squad B at 6 p.m.