Sergio Garcia remained unruffled by unruly winds at the Wachovia Championship Friday, the Spaniard maintaining his two-stroke lead of the 5.6 million-dollar event. The 25-year-old couldn't match his first round 66, but his one-under 71 on the wind-whipped Quail Hollow course was a solid effort. His 36-hole total of 137 gave him a two-shot lead over world number two Vijay Singh of Fiji, DJ Trahan and defending champion Joey Sindelar. "It felt good making only two bogeys, as tough as it was playing," Garcia said. Singh fired a 69 to climb up the leaderboard, while Trahan carded a 67 and Sindelar a 71.
Tiger Woods was five shots adrift after failing to capitalise on his sizzling start and finishing with a 72. Phil Mickelson was seven shots off the pace after a 73.
"Thank the pope it rained last night, because if the greens had stayed as firm as yesterday, with this kind of wind, it would have been almost impossible to hit some of those greens," Garcia said.
"You have to be hitting the ball so well to hit some of these fairways. I missed a couple of good chances at birdies but my putter behaved a little better, and I made some key par putts to keep my round going.
"I didn't hit the ball nearly as well as yesterday," Garcia added. "I wasn't as committed with most of my shots at the beginning of the round. Sometimes it makes you look a little stupid." Garcia won three times last year - twice on the US tour and once in Europe.
He put his failure to win so far this year down struggles with his short game - a surprising admission for a player who dazzled with his touch around the greens as a precocious pro in 1999.
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