The 38-foot Los Angeles pattern at the 2018 World Bowling Men’s Championships continued to prove challenging Tuesday as the first two squads competed in the doubles event.

Malaysia averaged 216.33 as a team to take the top spot halfway through the doubles event at the South China Athletic Association Bowling Centre in Hong Kong.

Andrian Ang (1,345) and Tun Hakim (1,251) combined to shoot 2,596 to put Malaysia in the lead with two more qualifying squads remaining. After all four squads compete, the top four doubles team will advance to the medal round Sunday, which will be broadcast live on FloBowling for audiences in North America.

Results: World Championships Doubles Qualifying

Team USA’s Jakob Butturff and Kyle Troup took the lead after the first squad Tuesday but a bad last game ended up keeping them from leading the day. After a big set in singles, Troup continued to bowl well on the Los Angeles pattern with 1,346 for six games, while Butturff shot 1,203.

The U.S. pair was steady throughout the block with combined games ranging from 414 to 465 but closed with just a 362 game.

Colombia’s Jaime Gonzalez and Santiago Mejia sit in third place with 2,512, while Germany’s Fabian Kloos and Timo Schroder are fourth with 2,504. Kloos fired the tournament’s second 300 game Tuesday.

The final two squads are loaded with strong doubles teams and given Tuesday’s low scoring pace, it is not impossible that all four finalists could come from those two squads Wednesday.

Team USA head coach Rod Ross told BOWL.com the teams and players continue to learn and gather more information on the Los Angeles pattern.

"We've learned from watching the scoring pace that you don't necessarily need those big scores, you just have to avoid the holes," Ross said. "We made better adjustments today, and we have to continue to be aware of how the center plays pair to pair. If we can make the adjustments earlier, I think we can salvage the lower games, and that will help us overall."

All medal rounds from the World Championships will be broadcast live on FloBowling from Dec. 1-5. To see the broadcast schedule, click here.