After starting Monday night’s match play 5-0 at the U.S. Open, Jakob Butturff looked like he would certainly be the leader heading into the final 16 games of match play, but Kristopher Prather had other plans.

Prather, who led all four rounds of qualifying, briefly gave up his lead to Butturff but surged back into the top spot to close out the opening round of round robin match play at Northrock Lanes.

Prather had a 6-1-1 record during the first eight of 24 matches and finished with a 9,125 total, including bonus pins, and a 223.25 average.

Butturff, who dominated the fourth round of qualifying early Monday, looked unstoppable on the pattern being used for the final qualifying round, match play and stepladder but stumbled down the stretch. He lost his last three matches to finish with a 5-3 record and a 40-game total of 9,062.

Both Prather and Butturff have built a sizeable lead over the field heading into Tuesday’s final rounds of match play and lead England’s Dom Barrett (8,715) by nearly 350 pins. Jason Sterner of Covington, Georgia (8,675), and 2015 U.S. Open champion Ryan Ciminelli of Cheektowaga, New York (8,672), round out the top five.

The final two rounds of match play will take place at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Central time and will be broadcast live on FloBowling. The top five after 56 games will advance to the stepladder finals, which will be broadcast live on CBS Sports Network on Wednesday night.

After struggling during Sunday’s third round of qualifying, Prather walked into Northrock Lanes with a new mindset and was ready to attack the 43-foot oil pattern being used for the remainder of the tournament.

The 2018 U.S. Open has featured four different lane conditions. Three oil patterns were used during the first three rounds of qualifying, and the final condition was introduced during the cashers’ round.

“I was much more confident this morning,” Prather said. “This pattern definitely suits my game better, and I had a pretty simple game plan – control the pocket and make it into match play with as many pins as I could.”

Prather wasn’t surprised by Butturff’s run toward the top of the standings, but he credits his performance in match play in putting him in a favorable spot heading into the final two rounds.

“I knew Jakob was going to catch up to me,” Prather said. “He was striking so much, and I thought he was going to start to run away with it. Being able to keep up with him when he starts striking like that gives me even more confidence heading into tomorrow.

“Winning six matches and tying another was a huge bonus, since I normally don’t have match-play rounds like that. For tomorrow, I’m going to just keep doing the same thing and try to get as many pins as I can and do whatever I can to stay at the top to guarantee myself a shot at the title.”

The 144-player field was cut to the top 36 players after Sunday’s third round of qualifying, and all advancers returned to the lanes Monday morning for a cashers’ round, which included an additional eight games to determine the 24 players for round-robin match play.

Prather led the field heading into match play, finishing with a 32-game total of 7,160. Dallas Leong of Las Vegas earned the final spot with a 6,601 score, a 206.28 average.

Aaron Smith of USBC Communications contributed to this report.