EUROPEAN TOUR:THERE WAS no place like home for Sergio Garcia yesterday as a six-under-par 65 gave him a share of the lead at the Castello Masters on the course he grew up playing.
The Spaniard, who is host for the inaugural tournament, showed sparkling form at the Club de Campo Mediterraneo, where his father, Victor, is still the professional, to reach 11 under after his second round.
That put him level with Englishman Richard Finch and Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen, the first-round leader.
Garcia suffered a shaky start with a bogey at the second hole, but used his local knowledge to good effect as he fired seven birdies thereafter.
His back nine was peppered with some sublime short play, the highlight of which was a brilliantly controlled chip from the rough with his second shot on 18 which stopped inches from the pin.
"I've had to play that shot many times but that's probably the closest I've got," said Garcia. "I knew as soon as I hit it that it would be close and it was great to finish the round with a birdie again.
"This week is great. It's nice to be in this position as there is a little bit of pressure playing on my home course. But I'm really enjoying it and hope I can be 100 per cent over the weekend."
Finch went on a six-hole birdie spree on his way to a 66, racking up shots on six successive holes from the fifth. But that run came to an abrupt halt at the par-four 11th where he three-putted for bogey, and he dropped another shot at the last.
Kjeldsen also bogeyed the 18th, finding bunkers from the tee and with his second shot, for a 67, which cost him the outright lead.
Rory McIlroy bogeyed the first, but threw in five birdies for a 67 lie in a share of 10th place on seven under, just four shots off the pace going into the weekend.
Paul McGinley (144), Peter Lawrie (145) and Gary Murphy (148) missed the cut.
For Finch, it was a different story 12 months ago as he left it until his last event of the season to secure his card with a seventh-placed finish at the Mallorca Classic.
Three months after that he won the New Zealand Open, in May he clinched the Irish Open, and he was comfortably placed at 19th in the Order of Merit heading into this event.
"I'm sleeping a little better than I did this time last year," said Finch. "I'm still as determined as I was last year but the pressure is not so great and I'm able to sleep a lot better.
"Keeping hold of your card is such a tough thing to do.
"Today was strange. The run of birdies was great and it was like I couldn't miss. But then on the way back I only had one and it shows how the game can turn."
Five players were on nine under, including Alvaro Quiros, last week's Portugal Masters champion, who continued his red-hot form with a 66, and Frenchman Francois Delamontagne, who needs a strong performance to finish in the top 115 and retain his European Tour card for next season.
Quiros' first thoughts were for his mentor Seve Ballesteros, who underwent a third brain operation in Madrid yesterday.
"We are all thinking about Seve but we can't help with words, they are not enough, it is not in our hands," Quiros told reporters.
"I know he has very complicated surgery today, we all hope it goes well and that he recovers soon."
Quiros is aiming for his third European Tour title, using a talisman he picked up the week after his maiden success which came on his tour debut last year, the Dunhill Championship in South Africa.
He hopes his casino chip ball-marker will bring him another victory. "I use the chip, which I got in a Port Elizabeth casino, to mark for my long putts," he said.
"It worked very well in the last round for me last week and it is working well this week."
Camilo Villegas lived up to his billing as one of golf's most exciting young talents by hitting a hole in one on the par-three 12th, which helped him to a five-under 66 to leave him six under.
Garcia said of the shot: "I said to him you're not supposed to do this on my home course. But I was just joking, I was very happy for him.
"That was the hole where I got my first ever hole in one."
