Charles Warren, one of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour, shot a 9-under-par 63 and was two shots back in second place at 10-under. His round was Friday's best in relatively calm morning conditions before the winds gusting up to 30 mph picked up in the afternoon at the 7,472-yard, par-72 Montreux Golf & Country Club on the edge of the Sierra Nevada.

Argentina's Jose Conceres, who had a hole-in-one en route to an opening 64, also suffered a double-bogey in a round of even par Friday afternoon to drop back to third place at 8-under 136.

"It was tough out there," said Flesch, who shot a 63 on Thursday when he hit 17 of 18 greens and tallied two eagles.

"The wind was blustery, blowing around. It was a lot different than the golf course we played yesterday," he said. "The mistakes I made today were kind of just wind-related. ... When you get 20 or 25 or 30 mph winds, you've really got to pay attention to your club selection."

Flesch has two victories in 11 years on tour and more than $13 million in career earnings but hasn't won since the Bank of America Colonial in 2004. The 40-year-old left-hander from Kentucky said he's just as happy to be playing well at Reno with its $3 million purse as he would be if he was at the $8 million World Golf Championships at Firestone Country Club in Ohio, where the world's top 84 are competing this weekend.

"I'm just glad I'm playing better. Whether I'm playing at Firestone or whether I'm playing here, it really doesn't matter to me. I haven't won in a couple of years so that's all I'm really concentrating on."

Australian Steve Allan followed an opening 65 with a 72 Friday for a two-round total of 7-under 137, tied for fourth with Reno resident Todd Fischer (68), Jason Dufner (70) and former Virginia Tech teammates Johnson Wagner (69) and Brendon de Jonge (70).

A group of six players another stroke back included Corey Pavin (71), Shaun Micheel (70) and Jason Gore (72).

Defending champ Will MacKenzie shot a 73 but made the even-par cut at 5-under 139, as did Steve Elkington, who shot 70 on Friday. Tadd Fujikawa, a 16-year-old high school junior from Honolulu, shot a 71 Friday but missed the cut at 7-over par in his professional debut.

"I didn't make the cut in this one, but I definitely learned a lot," said the 5-foot-1 Fujikawa, who had one of the biggest galleries following him. "Hopefully next time I can use the knowledge I gained from this one to do better in the next one."

Warren, a 32-year-old South Carolinan who once starred at Clemson, had seven birdies and made a 28-foot eagle putt on the par-5 fourth. He said he finally found a putter he likes to go with his 301-yard driving average that is tied for ninth-best on tour.

"I've got to let the cat out of the bag — I'm putting with a belly putter for the first time ever this week," he said.

"I had it before Sergio (Garcia) played with it in the British Open, so I'm not a copy cat," said Warren, who has topped the $1 million mark in each of the last two years and is 118th on the PGA money list this year with $517,636.

"My ball striking has always been good enough to compete out here, it's just a matter of me putting well from time to time to give myself a chance."

Conceres birdied two of the first four holes on Friday and was tied for the lead before suffering a double-bogey on the par-5 11th. He drove left into the rough, had to chip out into the fairway and hit his third shot into a greenside bunker. He chipped out to about 7 feet but missed the attempt for bogey. He chipped in from 28 feet for birdie on the 13th and made a 6-foot birdie putt on the next, but bogeyed Nos. 15 and 16.

"This morning was very good conditions. This afternoon, too windy," Conceres said.

Flesch started the day on the back nine with a one-stroke lead at 9-under and got to 12-under at the turn before he double-bogeyed his 11th hole of the day, taking two shots to get out of a buried lie in the deep bunker in front of the par-3 second and missing his 6-foot bogey attempt.

He bounced back on the par-5 fourth with a 3-foot birdie putt and added another birdie on the difficult 464-yard par-4 eighth when he hit a sand wedge 133 yards to inside 2 feet.

Like Thursday when he averaged hitting his approach shots to within 18 feet of the hole, Flesch fired at the pins for four birdies on his opening nine — two from 14 feet, one from 3 feet and one from 10 inches.