Stiles leads BMW Charity Pro-Am

Greer, South Carolina – Darron Stiles fired an eight-under 64 on Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the BMW Charity Pro-Am.

The tournament is staged on three South Carolina courses, which each person in the field will play once over the first three rounds. The host course -- Thornblade Club -- will be used for the final round.

Because Thornblade is a par-71 course and the other two -- The Carolina Country Club and Greenville Country Club -- are par 72s, scores vary in relation to par.

Stiles played at Carolina Country Club, as did D.J. Brigman and Jim Herman, who both carded seven-under 65s. They share second place with Jim Renner and Tim Wilkinson, who shot six-under 65s on the Thornblade course.

Derek Fathauer, Sam Saunders and Robert Streb put themselves in contention by firing 66s at Carolina. Mathias Gronberg, B.J. Staten, Joseph Bramlett and Andy Pope, all playing Thornblade, also recorded rounds of 66.

Stiles used a big run on his front nine to propel himself toward the top of the leaderboard. He birdied four and five, then came back with three in a row from the seventh to make the turn at minus-five.

He didn't make as many birdies on the back nine -- sinking them at 11, 13 and 17 -- but also didn't make any mistakes. He parred the last to end his bogey- free round and finish with the 64.

"The extra moisture on the greens meant you could basically fire at every pin and not have to worry about it running away from you," Stiles said. "But the key today was my longest birdie was from 20 feet. I hit it really good today with my irons and I made most of the putts that I had."

Brigman and Herman started from the 10th hole at Carolina, and also didn't stumble to any bogeys.

Brigman rolled in four birdies on the back nine and used an eagle at the fourth to get to minus-six. He then birdied his last to finish with a 65.

Herman started a little slower, making the turn at only two-under thanks to birdies at 10 and 16. But after he drained a birdie at three, he also eagled the fourth to climb toward the leaders and birdied his final two holes.

Wilkinson made four birdies on his front nine at Thornblade, and got to five- under with another at the 10th. He gave a stroke back two holes later, but rebounded with birdies at 13 and 15, then parred out to end at 65.

Renner made three birdies on both the front and back nine during his bogey- free round.

NOTES: The 38-year-old Stiles is a four-time winner on the Nationwide Tour, but hasn't recorded an official win since 2006...Stiles, Brigman and Herman will play at Thornblade on Friday...Reid Edstrom, Aaron Goldberg and Aaron Watkins posted the best score at Greenville on Thursday, five-under 67...Glen Day withdrew during his round because of a rib injury.