CROMWELL (Connecticut), June 30: Four players shared the lead after Thursday's first round of the Buick Championship as the PGA Tour's lesser lights sought to take advantage of the absence of many big names.

Australian Peter Lonard, Heath Slocum, Harrison Frazar and Scott Verplank topped the crowded leaderboard at five-under-par 65 after the first round of the 4.4 million-dollar tournament.

Slocum, who missed the cut in three of his last five events, made five birdies in a bogey-free round at the 6,820-yard TPC River Highlands course.

He is seeking his first title since last year's Southern Farm Bureau Classic.

Verplank twice has come close to his first title since the 2001 Bell Canadian Open, finishing tied for second at the Bob Hope Classic and the FBR Open in back-to-back events earlier this year. He also made five birdies without a bogey.

Although he made a bogey on the 13th hole, Lonard followed with four consecutive birdies and finished with six in his lowest round on the PGA Tour this year.

Half a dozen players were one shot off the pace, including 1995 US Open champion Corey Pavin, who lost a playoff here to Billy Ray Brown in 1991.

Pavin is winless on tour since the 1995 Colonial. Also in the group at 66 is Sweden's Carl Pettersson, who nearly made a hole-in-one on the par-four, 296-yard 15th hole, before settling for an eagle.

A dozen golfers are bunched up at 67, including past champions Olin Browne, Woody Austin and Brent Geiberger, along with 1986 PGA champion Bob Tway.

The highest-ranked player in the field is Australian Nick O'Hern, who is ranked 23rd in the world. He also carded an opening 67.

Two days after capturing the rain-delayed Booz Allen Classic, 2003 British Open winner Ben Curtis fired an even-par 70.

Defending champion Brad Faxon struggled to a 74.

First round scores:

65 - Harrison Frazar, Peter Lonard , Heath Slocum, Scott Verplank

66 - Todd Fischer, Corey Pavin, Carl Pettersson, Darron Stiles, Camilo Villegas, Ron Whittaker

67 - Woody Austin, Olin Browne, Brent Geiberger, Zach Johnson, Justin Leonard, Nick O'Hern , Kenny Perry, Tag Ridings, Joey Sindelar, D.J. Trahan, Bob Tway, D.A. Points

68 - Mathias Gronberg

69 - Brian Davis (GBR), Gabriel Hjertstedt, Ian Leggatt, David McKenzie, Jon Mills, Hidemichi Tanaka

70 - Alex Cejka , Greg Chalmers, Trevor Immelman

71 - K.J. Choi, Jose Coceres, Carlos Franco, Nathan Green, Daisuke Maruyama , Justin Rose

72 - Arjun Atwal , Steve Elkington, Tjaart Van Der Walt, Henrik Bjornstad

73 - David Frost , Mathew Goggin, Fredrik Jacobson, Stephen Leaney

74 - Shigeki Maruyama

78 - Aaron Baddeley--AFP