LEMONT (Illinois), July 6: John Cook birdied three of the last four holes to fire a six-under-par 66 and open up a two-stroke lead after the second round of the $4 million Western Open on Friday.

The 44-year-old American finished with an 11-under-par total of 133, two strokes ahead of fellow countryman Jonathan Byrd (68), Fiji’s Vijay Singh (67) and Stuart Appleby of Australia (65) at the Cog Hill Golf and Country Club.

One shot further adrift on 136 were Bob Estes, who won the tournament in 1985 as an amateur, Scott Verplank, Jerry Kelly, Joe Durant, Neal Lancaster and Australia’s Robert Allenby.

Cook had a bogey-free round and recorded three birdies on each nine. He has not dropped a stroke since his opening hole on Thursday.

Appleby, who was not won on the tour since the 1999 Houston Open, reeled off six consecutive birdies at the start of his round.

He made a bogey at the 17th, his eighth, before grabbing three more birdies and another bogey on his back nine.

Second round scores:

139 Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 68 71

140 Barry Lane 69 71, Mark Pilkington 71 69

141 Paul Lawrie 70 71, Darren Fichardt (South Africa) 67 74, Jamie Donaldson 70 71, Joakim Haeggman (Sweden) 68 73, Jorge Berendt (Argentina) 68 73, Patrik Sjoland (Sweden) 71 70, Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 72 69

142 Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 70 72, Jarrod Moseley (Australia) 67 75, Sebastien Delagrange (France) 69 73, Andrew Coltart 72 70, Bradley Dredge 71 71, Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 71 71

143 Sven Struever (Germany) 70 73, Retief Goosen (South Africa) 71 72, Ian Garbutt 72 71, Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 72 71, Lee Westwood 72 71, Eduardo Romero (Argentina) 74 69, Richard Johnson (Sweden) 71 72

144 Anders Hansen (Denmark) 71 73, Darren Clarke 74 70, Paul Casey 71 73, John Dwyer (Ireland) 69 75, Steen Tinning (Denmark) 70 74, Ricardo Gonzalez (Argentina) 73 71, Santiago Luna (Spain) 71 73, Colin Montgomerie 69 75, David Howell 72 72, Mark McNulty (Zimbabwe) 70 74, Richard Green (Australia) 74 70

* STRAFFAN (Ireland): New Zealand’s Michael Campbell needed only a one-under-par 71 to edge into a one-stroke lead in the second round of the European Open on Friday.

Campbell had lain a stroke off joint leaders Jarrod Moseley of Australia and South Africa’s Darren Fichardt overnight but as they both struggled at the lengthened 7,337-yard K Club, made tougher by 24 hours of rain, the New Zealander went clear.

On five-under-par 139, Campbell was a stroke better than Britain’s Barry Lane and Mark Pilkington, who lost out in a playoff last week for the Irish Open, now in a large group two shots off the pace.

Also in this group on three-under was one of last year’s runners-up behind winner Darren Clarke, Irishman Padraig Harrington, whose 69 was the joint-best of the day.

The 1999 British Open champion Paul Lawrie is also only two off the lead.

Fichardt recorded a 74 while Moseley fared even worse, running up two double-bogeys on his way to a 75 which left him trailing Campbell by three.

Swede Jarmo Sandelin, meanwhile, claimed the $30,000 car for a hole-in-one at the eighth after using a six iron at the 164-yard hole.

Australian Brett Rumford aced the 12th in the first round but only earned himself a bottle of champagne and a two-day break at the K Club.

Two players were disqualified during the morning round, former European number one Ronan Rafferty for playing a wrong ball on the seventh and teeing off on the eighth without discovering his error and the 1989 European Open champion Andrew Murray for failing to hand in a score at the 17th.

Colin Montgomerie mixed in six bogeys with three birdies to slide five shots behind, while Greg Norman moved to within a stroke of the lead, before crashing with consecutive double bogeys at the sixth and seventh to finish six shorts adrift.

Second round scores:

133 John Cook 67 66

135 Stuart Appleby (Australia) 70 65, Vijay Singh (Fiji) 68 67, Jonathan Byrd 67 68

136 Bob Estes 66 70, Robert Allenby (Australia) 69 67, Scott Verplank 67 69, Jerry Kelly 67 69, Joe Durant 68 68, Neal Lancaster 68 68

137 Davis Love III 67 70, Rocco Mediate 69 68, Paul Gow (Australia) 69 68

138 Franklin Langham 68 70, Brandt Jobe 69 69, Steve Elkington (Australia) 71 67, Luke Donald (Britain) 68 70, David Gossett 65 73

139 Carl Paulson 71 68, Tom Byrum 68 71, Harrison Frazar 71 68, Shaun Micheel 69 70, Cameron Beckman 73 66, Lee Janzen 72 67, Joey Sindelar 69 70, Stephen Gangluff 69 70.—Reuters