Sergio Garcia clawed his way back into the Australian Masters yesterday after struggling in the blustery conditions which affected the first round. The 20year-old Spaniard, who arrived the day before the event and managed just one round to familiarise himself with the tough course, opened on Wednesday with a five-over-par 78 in blustery conditions.

But the man nicknamed "El Nino" for his devil-may-care playing approach improved by 10 shots in cooler, drizzly conditions to move to within four shots of the lead heading into the weekend rounds at Huntingdale.

Garcia said afterwards he enjoys playing round the world and plans to continue doing so, rather than concentrating on the lucrative US and European Tours.

He said: "To be a great player you have to play well all around the world, and that's why I'm not going to stay in Europe or the States. I like to play both tours and then play some tournaments around the world."

The event is led by Australians Craig Spence and Anthony Painter and New Zealander Michael Campbell, who are all four-under on 142.

Of the Britons taking part, Steve Webster and David Tapping are best placed on 152 - the same score as Greg Norman after his second round of 76.

Two shots further back, David Carter failed to make the cut after a second-round 75, while Raymond Russell's second successive round of 80 ended his interest in the event.

But the duo are in good company - John Daly paid the price for his first-round 82 and a second-round 73 was not enough for him to qualify.

(Australian unless stated)

142 - A Painter 75 67, C Spence 73 69, M Campbell (Nzl) 75 67.

144 - S Laycock 75 69, C Carmichael 76 68, P Gow 71 73, S Hend 74 70, E Stedman 77 67.

145 - C Gaunt 72 73, R Allenby 77 68, S Tait 72 73, P Lonard 75 70, B Rumford 74 71, S Appleby 74 71, N Green 78 67.

146 - T Carolan 78 68, P Sheehan 76 70, S Garcia (Spa) 78 68, S Collins 76 70, A Tschudin 77 69.

147 - S Webster (Brit) 73 74, J Riley 77 70, K Sung-yoon (Kor) 75 72, M Norgren (Swe) 76 71, D Chopra (Swe) 79 68, A Webster 74 73, D Spencer 77 70.

Selected scores:

151 - P Burke (US) 78 73, R Byrd (US) 82 69

152 - J Benepe (US) 76 76, D Tapping (Brit) 74 78, Y Mizumaki (Jpn) 76 76, G Norman 76 76.