La Quinta, CA -- (Sports Network) - James Nitties fired a nine-under 63 Thursday to grab a one-shot lead after two rounds at the Final Stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School.

Nitties completed 36 holes of the 108-hole tournament at 12-under-par 132.

Robert Garrigus and Harrison Frazar both carded eight-under 64s Thursday to move into a share of second place at minus-11. Those three all entered round two tied for 36th.

The low-25 scores and ties will earn PGA Tour cards for 2009. The next number of finishers nearest 50 after the Qualifying Tournament graduates will earn fully exempt Nationwide Tour cards for 2009 and the remainder of the field will receive conditional Nationwide Tour status.

Each player competes on the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course and Stadium Course at PGA West three times.

Nitties played his round on the Nicklaus Tournament Course and opened with a birdie on the first. He then poured in three birdies in a four-hole span from the fourth.

That spurt moved him to minus-seven. Around the turn, Nitties birdied 10, 13 and 15 to jump to 10-under. Nitties closed with back-to-back birdies to lead by one after two rounds.

Garrigus collected four birdies in the first 13 holes, then flew up the leaderboard by making birdie at each of the last four holes at PGA West.

Frazar, who started on the back nine at PGA West, birdied the 11th, then carded three birdies in a four-hole stretch from the 14th to move to minus- seven.

The 37-year-old Frazar drained three consecutive birdie efforts from the second to climb to 10-under. His final birdie came on the par-five eighth.

James Oh (63), Bryan DeCorso (68), Geoffrey Sisk (65), Tyler Aldridge (66), Gary Woodland (64), Troy Kelly (68) and Diego Vanegas (64) are tied for fourth at 10-under 134.

Major Manning, Craig Kanada and Joey Lamielle shared the first-round lead at minus-seven.

Manning managed a two-under 70 and is tied for 11th at nine-under-par 135, while Lamielle stumbled to a two-over 74 that dropped him into a share of 50th at minus-five. Kanada struggled to a six-over 78 to tumble into a tie for 113th at minus-one.

Among those outside the top 25 and ties are Chris Riley (138), Olin Browne (139), Ricky Barnes (140), Bob May (141), defending champion Frank Lickliter (142), Notah Begay III (142) and Jason Gore (143).