When you give the best bowlers in the world multiple opportunities at qualifying, they typically find a way to put up a big score, and Australian two-hander Jason Belmonte did exactly that Friday at the 2018 Storm Lucky Larsen Masters in Malmo, Sweden.

The event uses a traditional European tournament format where bowlers qualify for the finals based on a six-game total, but they can re-enter as often as they like over the course of 33 qualifying squads. The finals on Sunday will be broadcast live on FloBowling.

In his third attempt, Belmonte fired a blistering 1,497 for six games (a 249.5 average) to surge into the lead by nearly 50 pins. The total topped Belmonte’s previous best effort by more than 150 pins. He shot 1,341 on Monday.

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Belmonte got off to a hot start Friday, shooting games of 256, 276 and 227 for a 759 series out of the gates. He closed with 279, 223 and 236 to easily take the lead with six squads remaining.

The second squad of the day Friday, which was Squad 27 overall, featured some big scores from more players than just Belmonte.

After struggling mightily in his first two attempts shooting just 1,096 and 1,179, Sean Rash came out swinging during Friday’s high-scoring squad. Rash fired 1,444, good enough for third place overall.

Anthony Simonsen put together a big set on Squad 28, placing him in ninth with 1,383, while Bill O'Neill scored well on Squad 27 with 1,373 and currently sits in 12th. Only the top eight players receive two byes in the final, while players qualifying ninth through 33rd get one bye.

Previous tournament leader Jimmy Dan Mortensen of Denmark, who bowled on the fourth squad of qualifying, dropped to second place with 1,451. He had held the lead since Aug. 26.