Tight at the top in Qatar as four share the lead after two days

But Paul Lawrie, another of Europe’s heroes in Chicago, saw his defence of the title come to a premature end after a four-putt double bogey on the 15th hole. He missed the cut by a single stroke.

Playing partner Garcia shot 66 and Kaymer returned a 67 to be alongside Australian Marcus Fraser and Portugal’s Ricardo Santos on nine under par.

Garcia underwent laser eye surgery to correct astigmatism following the victory over the Americans in September, but finished 2012 with a round of 61 for a three-shot win at the Johor Open in Malaysia.

That came two weeks after Kaymer, the man who sank the putt to retain the Ryder Cup, took the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa by two. And while the German played in Abu Dhabi last week and came joint sixth this is Garcia’s first appearance of the season.

“It was nice – I definitely felt I played a little bit better (than Wednesday),” he said after his six birdies. “Obviously I would have loved to hit a couple of shots better, but I gave myself a lot of chances and I can’t be disappointed. The wind started picking up a bit and it made it tough enough to choose the right clubs.

“We tried to play smart and managed to do that fairly nicely.”

First-round leader Santos followed up his 65 with a 70, making a fine up and down from the bunker at the par five last, while Fraser did the same on the long ninth to complete his 67.

Justin Rose made his first cut in five visits to Doha – “that’s almost like leading the tournament round here,” he joked – but with a 71 for five under, last week’s runner-up has four strokes to make up and lies joint 20th.

Open champion Ernie Els, winner in 2005, made it through with nothing to spare on one under, but twice champion Lawrie was unable to recover from his nightmare four holes from home.

The Scot’s long birdie attempt from the front fringe finished three feet from the flag and he three-putted from there before missing a six-foot chance to survive on the last.

New Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley also bowed out, as did his two immediate predecessors Jose Maria Olazabal and Colin Montgomerie.

The four leaders are a stroke ahead of England’s Gary Lockerbie, South African George Coetzee, Chilean Felipe Aguilar, New Zealand’s ex-US Open champion Michael Campbell and Dane Thorbjorn Olesen, joint second with Rose in Abu Dhabi last Sunday.

Simon Dyson was the only Yorkshireman to make the cut, with John Parry and Richard Finch both missing out by one shot.