Garcia enjoys good day all round

Sergio Garcia loves his golf, but he loves his tennis too and it was a great day for him on both fronts today.

First he burst into contention for the European Open with a second round 64, his lowest round of the year.

Then it was off to Wimbledon – for the third time this week – to see Rafael Nadal power his way to another final showdown with Roger Federer.

This could be some summer for Spanish sports fans, of course.

Thanks to Fernando Torres the Euro 2008 soccer title is already in the bag, Nadal has already won another French Open and in two weeks’ time Garcia hopes to make up for the huge disappointment of last July by capturing The Open at Royal Birkdale.

Without Tiger Woods in the field, he has as good a chance as anyone.

First, though, the 28-year-old wants another title to his name. He goes into the weekend in third place four behind England’s Ross Fisher, who added a 68 to his course record 63 and leads by one from Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell.

McDowell, two behind overnight, moved ahead with a morning 67, then Fisher, having played the Kent lay-out “blind” on Thursday, had four more birdies in his first 10 holes, bogeyed the 14th and 16th, but then closed with another birdie.

Garcia, who paired with McDowell had a better-ball 60, finished eagle-birdie and afterwards spoke about his growing friendship with Nadal.

“When you see a friend of yours doing well it makes you happy and you want to do well too,” said the world number eight, who used to date women’s tennis world number one Martina Hingis.

“It’s always nice to talk to a friend and ask him how things went. It’s been fun – we’ve been sending messages to each other and congratulating each other.

“I hit with him last year in Mallorca. It was awesome, great. Actually he was quite impressed with my tennis – he thought I was going to be a little bit worse - and I was very impressed with his golf when he played the pro-am.”

This is Garcia’s last outing before The Open. He opted for the European Open rather than next week’s Scottish Open because there is more of a links feel to the course.

“I’m trying to make sure that I get myself comfortable and some of the shots I’ve been hitting this week I’m going to be using at The Open,” he stated.

“You don’t want to find your swing going into a major. I’ll just get some good practice at home and just try to get myself as ready as possible.”

Colin Montgomerie and Ian Poulter, having matched each other with opening 70s, both improved three shots on that to be seven-under, the same as Paul McGinley, for whom a top five finish on Sunday could secure him an Open spot.

For Darren Clarke that objective has gone. He missed the cut for a second week running, then was disqualified for signing for a par four on the last when he actually bogeyed it.

His only way to Birkdale now is to be in the top five at the Scottish Open.

Open champion Padraig Harrington had a 70, but at two-under like Justin Rose appears out of the running.

It was Harrington who had marked a four down on Clarke's card, but the error was not as costly as the one which cost Harrington his place in the 2000 Benson and Hedges International. He was leading with a round to go when it was discovered he had not signed his first round scorecard.

Scot Stephen Gallacher, in the last group of the day, joined the group on seven-under and still had four holes to play.