Garcia putts a friendly volley for Nadal

Sergio Garcia, spurred on by the successes of his friend Rafael Nadal, rocketed up the leaderboard in the European Open second round on Friday.

Sergio Garcia, spurred on by the successes of his friend Rafael Nadal, rocketed up the leaderboard in the European Open second round on Friday.

"When you see a friend of yours doing well it makes you happy and you want to do well too," Garcia told reporters after firing an eight-under 64 for a nine-under tally of 135 at the London Club.

"It is nice to talk to a friend and ask him how things went. It has been fun and we've been sending messages congratulating each other," added the Spaniard before rushing off to watch Nadal in his Wimbledon semi-final with German Rainer Schuettler.

Garcia said he enjoyed the experience of sharing a tennis court with Nadal last year. "I hit with him at Majorca. It was awesome," said the world's eighth-ranked golfer. "He was quite impressed with my tennis. He said he thought I was going to be a little bit worse. I was also very impressed with his golf when we played at a pro-am in Majorca."

Garcia is buoyed by the recent sporting triumphs of his fellow countrymen and is keen to ride the same wave. "It has been a good month and a half for Spanish sports," said the 28-year-old. "I won the Players Championship (in Florida) and Nadal won his fourth French Open.

"Spain's footballers won Euro 2008 and (fellow golfer Pablo) Larrazabal won last week's French Open. You always want to do well so hopefully I will keep it up."