FINDLEY LAKE, N.Y. -- Jason Dufner shot a 4-under-par 68 Friday and moved into the lead at the halfway point of the $560,000 Peek‘n Peak Classic, the 15th stop on the 2006 Nationwide Tour. Dufner, who won the LaSalle Bank Open in Chicago three weeks ago, stands at 7-under 137 after two trips around the Upper Course at the Peek‘n Peak Resort.

First-round leader Dave Rummells (72), Charlie Wi (71), Craig Bowden (68), Nick Malinowski (67) and Erie, Pa. native Andrew Pratt (68) are one shot off the lead. Kyle Reifers, winner of last week’s Chattanooga Classic in his first career start, shot a 5-under 67 to head the group at 5-under 139. Reifers and David Mathis (70) share seventh-place, two back. Seven others are within three of the lead heading into the weekend. A total of 60 players made the 36-hole cut, which came at even-par 144.

Dufner might be among the better equipped players to handle the 5-inch rough that awaits errant tee shots and misdirected irons. The former Auburn grad faced equally difficult conditions while winning in Chicago and then faced an even tougher test again two weeks ago at the U.S. Open, where he was tied for seventh after 36 holes before he eventually finished in a tie for 40th place.

“The course conditions here are pretty similar to Chicago and the Open,” said Dufner, who hit 10 of 14 fairways Friday. “The mindset is the same in that you have to hit it in the fairway if you want to have a chance to score.”

Dufner was steady during his second round with five birdies and one bogey to show for his efforts after making eight birdies and five bogeys during his opening round.

“I might have been a little bit rusty after taking a week off. After playing well in Chicago and halfway decent at the Open, I’m playing with a lot of confidence right now,” said Dufner, whose recent victory netted him a sponsor’s exemption into next week’s Cialis Western Open back in the Windy City. “After playing in the Open, the fairways seem wider here and the greens seem bigger here. Everything seems a little easier. The Open was such a grueling test both mentally and physically, I feel a little more relaxed here this week.

Rummells had 24 putts and shot 66 to grab the first-day lead but had to settle for an even-par 72 Friday despite hitting 17 greens in regulation. The 48-year old Rummells had trouble finding the cup, witnessed by his 36 total putts.

“There wasn’t much happening out there today. I wasn’t hitting as close today as I did yesterday and I didn’t quite have the speed right on my putts,” he said. “When you’re speed is off, that’s when you start missing putts. They may go off line at the end or they start bumping a little bit. You start missing and you get a little bit of doubt. Ask anyone in the field, these greens are hard to read.”

Among those chasing the leaders is Reifers, who turned pro less than three weeks ago and has won both of his professional starts. The 22-year old recent Wake Forest grad made seven birdies in his first 11 holes and looked like he’d threaten to duplicate his final-round 61 from last week in Tennessee.

“You think about it a little bit but I was just trying to play shot for shot,” said Reifers, who has earned almost $100,000 in two weeks of being a pro. “If you go to sleep for a few shots out there, you can go up quick. You need to be hitting fairways out here or you’re going to be hacking it out all day.”

Second-round News and Notes: The second round was played under “lift, clean and place” conditions…27 players completed their opening round Friday morning…Garrett Willis and Deane Pappas both withdrew during the round. Paul Gow was disqualified for not completing play…Reifers and Jeff Quinney tied the tournament and course records with 6-under-par 30s on the front nine…Quinney and Brad Elder each had back-to-back eagles Friday. They both made an eagle two on the par-4 second hole and followed it up with an eagle at the par-5 third…There were a total of 19 eagles on Friday but only eight of them came on par-5 holes. The other 11 came on five different par 4s…The first-round scoring average was 73.397. The second-round scoring average was 72.863…