Scotland's Richard Ramsay maintained his two-shot lead at the Andalucia Masters yesterday before setting his sights on getting the better of his 'idol' Sergio Garcia.
The 28-year-old, who carded a 65 in the first round, is five-under-par for the tournament after a two-birdie, three-bogey 72. France's Gregory Havret reached thehalfway point on three-under, while Garcia - winner of his home Castello Masters by 11 strokes last Sunday - is one further back after a second successive 70 on a layout where he has been a runner-up three times.
No Spaniard has won a European Tour event at Valderrama.
"Going up against one of your idols on a course, this is a dream situation," Ramsay said. "I look forward to playing with Sergio, his natural ability and the way he plays golf is the way that I like to play golf. He likes to shape it and move it, and use some imagination - he's probably the best person doing that in the game.
"He also connects to people, they like to go and watch him and he's entertaining to watch."
Garcia, who ended a three-year title drought in Castellon last weekend, needs to win again to qualify for next week's World Golf Championships in Shanghai.
"I could have been a little bit more aggressive with a couple of putts coming in, but my short game is pretty good right now," he said. "It was difficult to hit fairways and to choose the right club. Thank God it's soft because, if not, this would be hell. But I've always enjoyed hard courses. Back-to-back wins would be a great thing, but I don't want to get ahead of myself."
Brett Rumford was the best-placed Australian with a two-round total of 147 - 10 shots off the lead - one stroke ahead of Scott Strange and Andrew Dodt.
