CROMWELL (Connecticut), July 1: Darron Stiles fired a four-under-par 66 here Friday to grab a one-shot lead after the second round of the 4.4 million-dollar Buick Championship.

A four-time winner on the Nationwide developmental tour, Stiles had a pair of ninth-place PGA Tour finishes last season, the best of his career.

One of them came in this event, and Stiles showed his comfort with the 6,820-yard layout again Friday.

Starting on the 10th, Stiles was even for the round after a bogey at 18. He rebounded with three straight birdies to start his final nine and he closed with a birdie at the ninth to take a one-shot lead over Australian Peter Lonard.

But plenty of players remained within striking distance. Twelve players were within three shots, and a group of 14 was another stroke back.

Lonard opened with a 65 on Thursday and followed it up with three birdies and a bogey on Friday for a two-under 68.

The Australian, who was part of a four-way tie for the lead after the first round, was at seven-under 133.

Leading scores

132 - Darron Stiles 66-66

133 - Peter Lonard 65-68

134 - Notah Begay 68-66, Stewart Cink 69-65, Todd Fischer 66-68, Scott Verplank 65-69

135 - Brent Geiberger 67-68, Trevor Immelman 70-65, Skip Kendall 68-67, Ryan Moore 69-66, Joe Ogilvie 72-63, D.J. Trahan 67-68

136 - Nathan Green 71-65, Camilo Villegas 66-70

137 - Carl Pettersson 66-71

138 - Daisuke Maruyama 71-67, David McKenzie 69-69

139 - K.J. Choi 71-68, Mathias Gronberg 68-71, Shigeki Maruyama 74-65, Nick O'Hern 67-72, Tjaart Van Der Walt 72-67

140 - Alex Cejka 70-70, Brian Davis 69-71, Fredrik Jacobson 73-67

French Open scores

PARIS: Scores from the European PGA Tour French Open at the par-71 course on Friday.

133 John Bickerton) 63 70

134 Gary Orr 70 64

135 Joakim Baeckstroem 66 69; Michael Campbell 65 70; Bradley Dredge 69 66; Jose Manuel Lara 67 68

136 Benn Barham 67 69; Markus Brier 68 68; Peter Gustafsson 68 68

137 David Carter 67 70; Darren Fichardt 67 70; Paul Lawrie 69 68; Henrik Stenson 67 70

138 Paul Broadhurst 68 70; Alastair Forsyth 69 69; Mark Foster 67 71; Marcus Fraser 70 68; Anders Hansen 70 6; Ian Poulter 68 70; Phillip Price 70 68; Eduardo Romero 71 67.—Agencies