England’s Peter Baker used the same putter he won three points out of four with at The 1993 Ryder Cup to storm into second place behind Italy’s Marco Crespi at the Credit Suisse Challenge.
The 39 year old Englishman, a three time champion on The European Tour, is hoping to win back his place on Tour via the top 20 of the Challenge Tour Rankings.
He set about doing just that at the Wylihof Golf Club with a vintage display of shot-making and, of course, putting to move to 14 under par 205 at the par 73 Wylihof Golf Club in Switzerland.
Baker is just one behind his third round playing partner Marco Crespi of Italy, whose brilliant 65 took him to 15 under 204, with Spain’s Carlos Del Moral also on 14 under after a third round 69.
“It’s been a long time since I had the adrenaline and excitement of being in real contention going into the final round,” said Baker, who Vice-Captained Ian Woosnam during Europe’s recent Ryder Cup success at The K Club last year.
“I’m really looking forward to tomorrow now – hopefully I can put the experience to good use when I remember what to do in this situation!
“I got the old Ryder Cup putter out of the garage this week and I have been putting well for the first time in a long while. That has been my biggest problem, but it has been feeling good this week.
“I’m using my old Ping B-60 and it’s having the same affect on me now as it did in The Ryder Cup.”
Crespi was in sensational form during the third round, picking up four birdies on both the front and back nine to edge ahead of Baker and Del Moral with 18 holes of the tournament remaining.
“I got off to a great start today and just continued that way,” said Crespi. “It was a nice and easy day, but it was only the third day and we will have to wait and see what happens tomorrow.
“I have a great opportunity to change my whole season around because I am playing only on invitations this year, and if I can win tomorrow then I will have the best Challenge Tour category so it’s a great chance for me.”
Also in with a great chance to win is fourth placed Robert Dinwiddie, whose third round 71 left him just two shots off the pace on 13 under 206.
The third round of the Credit Suisse Challenge also proved a fine day for home players Julien Clément, Raphaël de Sousa and Nicolas Sulzer. Clément is the leading Swiss player in the field on nine under par following his third round 68, while de Sousa climbed 35 places on the leaderboard, from 58th to 23rd position. Sulzer moved from 43rd to 23rd going into today’s final round.
