Avondale, La. • Jason Dufner is in familiar territory atop the leaderboard after 36 holes.

It's the weekends that have given him fits.

Dufner moved into position for another bid to win his first PGA Tour title, shooting a 7-under 65 on Friday to take the second-round lead in the Zurich Classic. The former Auburn player has had at least a share of the 36-hole lead in two of his last four tournaments, including the Masters, where he closed with consecutive 75s. He's second on the tour in pre-cut scoring, but 98th in third rounds and 108th in final rounds.

"It's been a difficult weekend for me the last month and a half or so," Dufner said. "I haven't quite played as well as I would have liked, but I know that my game is still pretty good.

"I've been trying to think about what I can do better mentally, what I can do better emotionally out there and learn from some things that I maybe struggled with. Obviously, there's a lot of different things that go into winning besides hitting the golf ball."

Dufner lost a playoffs last year to Mark Wilson in the Phoenix Open and Keegan Bradley in the PGA Championship for two of his three runner-up finishes in 163 starts on the PGA Tour.

On Friday, he capped his bogey-free round with a 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th to reach 12 under.

"I had a couple of easy birdies," Dufner said. "I don't think I missed a fairway or a green. Just had some tough reads. The greens are kind of tough to read. Sometimes you get competing grains, competing slopes, so you get a putt that might break to the right, but the grain is going left. That can be kind of difficult to judge. Then 18, I had just a really good number for my 5-wood to get somewhere on that green and had a putt that was down grain and breaking to the left with the grain, so that was a nice way to finish the day."PGA Tour rookie Russell Knox, John Rollins and first-round co-leader Ken Duke were tied for second. Knox shot a career-best 64, Rollins 66 and Duke 68.

Greg Chalmers holed out for an eagle on the par-4 first and also finished with a 64 to join Steve Stricker and Ernie Els at 10 under. Stricker and Els shot 68.

LPGA Tour

In Mobile, Ala., Stacy Lewis birdied five of her final nine holes for a 5-under 67 and a onestroke lead after the second round of the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic. Lewis, the Kraft Nabisco winner last year, had three straight birdies and a two-stroke lead, but missed a 5-foot par putt on the final hole en route to her first bogey of the week. She had a -under 135 total on The Crossings course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail's Magnolia Grove complex.

Karin Sjodin tied the tournament course record with shot a 64 to finish a stroke back along with Lindsey Wright, So Yeon Ryu and rookie Sydnee Michaels. Ryu shot 67, Michaels 68, and Wright 69.