The Spanish Ryder Cup pair Sergio Garcia and Miguel Angel Jiménez will go head to head in the Omega European Masters after they edged clear of the field at the halfway stage at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in Switzerland writes David Davies at Crans-Sur-Sierre.
Garcia birdied each of the last four holes for a six under par 65 to post the target of 11 under par 131, with Jiménez a shot back after a four under par 67.
The third of Bernhard Langer's Ryder Cup charges in action this week, Luke Donald, is lying in joint third place on eight under par alongside South African Charl Schwartzel.
Grame McDowell also picked up four shots on the last four holes starting with an eagle three on the 15th, where he hit a five iron dead, followed by birdies at 16th and 17th for a six under par total of 136.
After a double bogey at the 14th in the first round, Peter Lawrie found trouble at the closing holes yesterday. Three under par with two holes to play Lawrie ran up at six at the par-four 17th and followed with a bogey at the last for a 71 and a 142 total.
Damien McGrane and Gary Murphy both missed the cut which fell at one over par 143. McGrane lost out by one shot after a pair of 72s while Murphy was three back on 146 after a 72.
There is a new consistency in Garcia's game, the months of work put into re-modelling his swing after last year's World Golf Championships now paying dividends and his favoured fade giving him extra control around the tricky Ballesteros Course. "The first three months were the hardest," he confessed yesterday.
"I was hitting balls everyday, which I don't normally do, with my Dad filming me, making sure I was doing it right. I wanted to make sure the club was in a good spot at the top. I wanted to get the feel of that and then try to repeat and repeat that feel. It was a lot of work but also fun. I enjoyed trying to get things going the right way."
They are mostly going the right way this week. Garcia hit a drive of 370 yards - "just a nice little fade" - down the 14th and when they go wrong, he has to rely on that innate natural talent of his. At the short third, for instance, he borrowed from the armoury of impossible shots once possessed by his countryman, Severiano Ballesteros.
"I was trying to hit a cut seven-iron into the middle of the green, when a little demon got into my right shoulder and said make sure you don't over-cut it and so I pulled it instead."
The ball clattered into a cypress pine, finishing underneath it. Garcia was left peering mournfully through the tree's branches in order to catch a glimpse of his wayward ball.
"I had about three-feet of backswing," said Garcia, "and I punched it into a bank and let it run down to three feet.
"That," added the Spaniard, with considerable understatement, "was a good three there".
Garcia, whose natural shot before the changes was a draw, is now more comfortable with a fade.
"I can hit my draw if I want to but when I have a tight shot, I feel I can control a fade better. "
After shooting his 65 Garcia again said he would be advising Jimenez to withdraw from next week's German Masters.
If Jimenez plays in Cologne, the Ryder Cup will be his sixth consecutive week of playing, something the 24-year-old Garcia feels is too much.
"I don't need people to tell me what to do," said Jimenez who is still well in contention for his fifth win of the year and second in successive weeks.
"I am 40 years old and I think I know what I have to do. I know it's a lot of golf but I'm going to the German Masters and I will recover from playing there before playing in the Ryder Cup.
"I need to keep playing. If I go home to Spain I will not play any golf and that is not good for me the week before the match. I'll have my week off after the Ryder Cup.
