There was no place like home for Sergio Garcia on Friday as a six-under-par 65 gave him a share of the lead at the Castello Masters on a course he grew up playing.
The Spaniard, hosting 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.
It was a different story 12 months ago for Finch 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.
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."
Collated second round scores & totals in the European Tour Castello Masters Costa Azahar, Club de Campo, Castellon, Spain
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):
131 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 64 67, Richard Finch 65 66, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 66 65
133 Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 66 67, David Lynn 67 66, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 68 65, Simon Dyson 66 67, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 67 66
134 Thomas Levet (Fra) 66 68
135 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 67 68, Rory McIlroy 68 67, Phillip Archer 67 68, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 65 70
136 Paul Casey 69 67, Alexander Noren (Swe) 68 68, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 69 67, Camilo Villegas (Col) 70 66, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 70 66, John Bickerton 66 70
137 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 72 65, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 71 66, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 66 71, Gary Orr 70 67, Nick Dougherty 68 69, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 65 72, Stuart Manley 69 68, Justin Rose 67 70, Stephen Gallacher 67 70, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 69 68, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 69 68
138 Garry Houston 67 71, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 70 68, David Griffiths 67 71, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 67 71, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 66 72, Peter Hanson (Swe) 65 73, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 71 67, Jean Van de velde (Fra) 68 70, Alastair Forsyth 68 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 68 70
139 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 71 68, Bradley Dredge 71 68, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 71 68
140 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 72 68, Chris Wood 68 72, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 71 69, Benn Barham 68 72, Simon Wakefield 72 68, Anthony Wall 71 69, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 70 70, Pedro Linhart (Spa) 68 72, Barry Lane 71 69, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 71 69
141 Paul Lawrie 71 70, Markus Brier (Aut) 74 67, Sam Little 72 69, Johan Edfors (Swe) 70 71, Ross McGowan 72 69
142 Lee Slattery 71 71, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 72 70, David Howell 69 73, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 73 69, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 70 72, Mark Foster 72 70, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 69 73, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 72 70
Missed the cut:
143 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 72 71, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 73 70, Sam Walker 73 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 71 72, Santiago Luna (Spa) 69 74, Scott Drummond 72 71, Oliver Fisher 70 73, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 71 72
144 Steve Webster 67 77, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 72 72, Phillip Price 74 70, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 71 73, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 73 71, Andres Romero (Arg) 73 71, Paul McGinley 72 72, Miles Tunnicliff 67 77
145 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 71 74, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 75 70, Anders Hansen (Den) 73 72, David Frost (Rsa) 72 73, Peter Lawrie 71 74, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 76 69, Carl Suneson (Spa) 74 71, Marc Warren 73 72, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 75 70
146 Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 69 77, Paul Broadhurst 76 70, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 73 73
147 Luis Claverie (Spa) 76 71, Carlos Garcia (Spa) 75 72
148 Gary Murphy 74 74, Robert Dinwiddie 73 75, Tom Whitehouse 75 73, Ariel Canete (Arg) 71 77, Gregory Havret (Fra) 75 73, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 74 74
149 Carlos Balmaseda (Spa) 73 76, Jordi Garcia (Spa) 80 69
150 Leif Westerberg (Swe) 76 74, Graeme Storm 75 75
151 Pablo Martin (Spa) 72 79, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 79 72, Simon Khan 74 77
155 Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 77 78
156 Federico Cabrera (Arg) 77 79
166 Luis Romero (Arg) 86 80
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