Scotland's Richie Ramsay maintained his two-shot stroke lead in the Andalucia Masters despite taking seven shots more than his opening 65.
The 28-year-old from Aberdeen slipped back to five-under-par after a two-birdie, three-bogey 72 at Valderrama.
Driving into the rough cost him a shot on the 454-yard 18th, but his closest pursuer, France's Gregory Havret, also bogeyed the last to reach halfway on three-under.
Ramsay told European Tour radio: "It was a really tough day and I hung in there. It just illustrates how good my six under round was.
"I hit so many fairways and so many greens, but couldn't get the ball to drop. But my ball-striking was good and I've got to take the positives out of it."
Ramsay bogeyed the third and sixth, the two short holes on the outward half, but birdied the eighth and 11th.
Havret had a seven on his card for the second day running. After double-bogeying the long fourth in his opening 68 he lost his drive at the 547-yard 11th.
Birdies at the next two repaired the damage and after his 71 he commented: "This course does not accept any errors. Every hole is a real challenge and you have to focus on every shot."
The big mover on the day was Sergio Garcia, winner of his home Castello Masters last Sunday, who is one shot further back after a second successive 70 on a layout where he has been a runner-up three times.
Aggressive
Garcia - who won for the first time in almost three years last week - needs to repeat the feat to qualify for next week's world championship 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.
"Valderrama can catch you any time - you can never think that you have this course under control. Even without wind it's asking you to hit all the shots in the bag. That's the beauty of if. A course doesn't need to be long to be tough."
England's Ross Fisher was second after an opening 67 but crashed to four over with a 79.