South Africa, Colombia move into lead at 2015 World Cup

LAS VEGAS - South Africa's Francois Louw and Colombia's Clara Guerrero surged into the lead after three rounds of qualifying Tuesday at the 2015 QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup.

Louw put together a huge third-round block to take the men's lead with a 24-game total of 5,351 (222.96 average), while defending women's champion Guerrero moved into the top spot in the final game Tuesday with 5,177 (215.71 average) at Sam's Town Bowling Center.

The World Cup is considered one of the sport's most prestigious singles titles and features bowlers from 88 countries, making it the largest event in the sport in terms of number of countries competing.

In the third round, Louw shot the highest eight-game total in the field by almost 160 pins, finishing with 1,895 to move into the top spot.

Team USA's Kamron Doyle sits in second place with 5,256, and Hong Kong's Siu Hong Wu is in third place with 5,218. Singapore's Jarvis Goh, who led the first two rounds, dropped to fourth with 5,201, while Ireland's Paul Stott Jr. is fifth with 5,179.

On the women's side, Guerrero took the lead with a 248 final game Tuesday to lead the field heading into the Round of 24.

Mexico's Sandra Gongora is second with 5,158, while Team USA's Shannon Pluhowsky is third with 5,134. Russia's Maria Bulanova is fourth with 5,130, and Malaysia's Siti Safiyah is fifth with 5,084.

The field was cut to the top 24 men and top 24 women Tuesday after the third round. Mike Bartaire of France and Catherine Durieux of Belgium earned the last spots in the Round of 24.

The top 24 will bowl eight additional games Wednesday to determine the top eight for round-robin match play. After match play, the top three men and top three women advance to the stepladder finals.

BowlTV is providing live streaming of the event, culminating with the stepladder finals on Thursday at approximately 3:30 p.m. Eastern. For the complete live streaming schedule, visit BOWL.com/LiveStream.