Sergio Garcia clawed his way back into contention at the Australian Masters in Melbourne, with a second round five-under-par 68.

The 20-year-old Spaniard, nick-named El Nino for his devil-may-care playing approach, improved by 10 shots in cooler, drizzly conditions after an opening round 78 on Thursday.

Four birdies, an eagle and a bogey propelled Garcia to within four shots of the lead heading into the weekend rounds at Huntingdale.

Garcia has had a far from a settled approach to his first Australian tournament, however.

He was jet-lagged and had to contend with horrendous playing conditions on Thursday - 20-knot blustery winds and sapping heat - as he tried to come to grips with the par-73 layout.

It was little wonder that he welcomed the solace of his hotel room after Thursday's near six-hour round, yet it also prompted questions about his transient life on the golf tour.

"I had dinner, watched a movie and went to sleep last night," he said.

"This is the life I like to have and I am not one of those players who go to their room and stay there and phone for room service.

"I always like to go out and have some dinner, look around and enjoy the country I'm in."

Garcia also spoke of his desire to play throughout the world rather than concentrating on the lucrative US and European Tours.

"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.

"It's great and it gives you a lot of experience."

Garcia's round was matched by his playing partner Robert Allenby of Australia, who also shot 68 Friday to be one under for the tournament.

Leaderboard

142 - Anthony Painter 75-67, Craig Spence 73-69, Michael Campbell (NZl) 75-67
144 - Scott Laycock 75-69, Craig Carmichael 76-68, Paul Gow 71-73, Scott Hend 74-70, Ed Stedman 77-67
145 - Chris Gaunt 72-73, Robert Allenby 77-68, Shane Tait 72-73, Peter Lonard 75-70, Brett Rumford 74-71, Stuart Appleby 74-71, Nathan Green 78-67
146 - Tony Carolan 78-68, Paul Sheehan 76-70, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 78-68, Steve Collins 76-70, Andrew Tschudin 77-69
147 - Steve Webster (Gbr) 73-74, Jon Riley 77-70, Sung-yoon Kim (Kor) 75- 72, Marcus Norgren (Swe) 76-71, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 79-68, Andrew Webster 74-73, Darren Spencer 77-70

Selected scores

151 - Patrick Burke (USA) 78-73, Robin Byrd (USA) 82-69
152 - Jim Benepe (USA) 76-76, David Tapping (Gbr) 74-78, Yoshinori Mizumaki (Jpn) 76-76, Greg Norman 76-76
154 - Yasuharu Imano (Jpn) 78-76, David Carter (Gbr) 79-75
155 - John Daly (USA) 82-73
160 - Raymond Russell (Gbr) 80-80, Tobias Dier (Ger) 81-79
167 - Chad Wright (USA) 86-81

Cut was made at six-over 152