Canada's Glen Hnatiuk shot a second consecutive 65 to lead by one stroke after two rounds in the St Jude Classic in Memphis.

Starting the day as joint leader, Hnatiuk did not drop a shot and now leads on 12 under-par.

One shot behind the Canadian are 2000 champion Notah Begay III, Pat Bates and Jay Haas.

Matt Kuchar and Justin Leonard are at 10 under while joint overnight leader Tim Petrovic is at nine-under.

Hnatiuk, who is looking for his first win on the main tour, needed just 27 putts in his round.

Begay appears to have rediscovered his form after missing the first 11 cuts of 2002 and coming joint-33rd last week at the Canon Greater Hartford Open.

The American, who won this event in both 1999 and 2000, and since then has struggled with a lower back injury.

"I guess as far as this year's stats go, I shouldn't be in contention," he said.

"But I think one thing that I've always maintained is that as soon as my health returned, my game would return too - and I'm finally healthy.

"So I'm just sort of picking up where I left off the in fall of 2000 and playing good golf."

Bates moved into contention with an eight-under-par 63, which was the joint-lowest score of the day.

Second round scores from the FedEx St Jude Classic in Memphis
(US unless stated, par 71)

130 Glen Hnatiuk (Canada) 65 65
131 Pat Bates 68 63, Jay Haas 67 64, Notah Begay III 66 65
132 Matt Kuchar 66 66, Justin Leonard 66 66
133 Tim Petrovic 65 68
134 John Riegger 66 68, Robert Gamez 70 64, Jason Hill 68 66, Doug Barron 67 67
135 Jim Carter 68 67, Rich Beem 67 68, Boo Weekley 67 68, Steve Pate 67 68
136 Steve Flesch 69 67, Robert Damron 68 68, Joel Edwards 73 63, David Gossett 71 65, John Daly 66 70, Tom Byrum 73 63, Frank Nobilo (New Zealand) 72 64, Edward Fryatt (Britain) 67 69, Ted Tryba 68 68, Brian Bateman 68 68, Donnie Hammond 70 66, Cameron Beckman 69 67, Kirk Triplett 69 67, David Toms 68 68, David Howser 66 70

Selected others:

137 David Morland IV (Canada) 69 68
138 John Senden (Australia) 68 70, Ian Leggatt (Canada) 71 67, Grant Waite (Australia) 70 68
139 Robert Allenby (Australia) 72 67, Brenden Pappas (South Africa) 71 68, Nick Price (Zimbabwe) 68 71
141 Steve Allan (Australia) 72 69, Deane Pappas (South Africa) 67 74, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 72 69
142 Rod Pampling (Australia) 69 73, Tim Clark (South Africa) 71 71, Wayne Grady (Australia) 73 69
143 Richard Zokol (Canada) 73 70
145 Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 71 74
146 Esteban Toledo (Mexico) 70 76, Eduardo Herrera 75 71
147 Stephen Ames (Canada) 73 74, Paul Gow (Australia) 73 74, Mathew Goggin (Australia) 74 73
148 Gabriel Hjertstedt (Sweden) 76 72
149 Fulton Allem (South Africa) 75 74, Bradley Hughes (Australia) 72 77