James Lee is trying not to think too far ahead after a supreme round of golf in the flagship event for Britain and Ireland's top club professionals.
Playing in a 25mph gale and frequent downpours the 40-year-old Caerphilly pro took the Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship by the scruff of the neck as he returned an unbelievable one-under 71 over the fearsome Dundonald Links course near Troon.
That score - three better than any of the 52 other players - gives him a five-stroke cushion going into the final round, worth £10,000 to the winner and a guaranteed place in the GB & I team to contest the PGA Cup (the club pros' version of the Ryder Cup) back in Scotland in September.
"I can't deny I've been thinking about it all, but I've lost more than I've won by not having the right thoughts," he said.
He certainly plotted his way round the windswept links with panache. "I hesitate to say it, but I played some faultless golf out there, I chipped in twice - once for a saving bogey, the other for birdie - and the only little niggle is leaving a four-foot putt inches short on the last for another birdie."
He was also at pains to give huge credit to his coach, Terry Hanson from Cardiff, whom he's known for 20 years.
"It's my first lesson from him since last year - we're both so busy at our respective clubs - but he gave me a swing thought which has helped enormously."
Chasing him today will be the 2006 winner, Paul Wesselingh, whose 74 came despite a bad fall as he crossed a bridge at the 11th hole, and skidded on the greasy surface.
"I was holding my putter under my arm and I think I jammed it into my ribs. My fingers went numb, and I couldn't really feel the putter for the next two holes (which he bogeyed)," he said.
A couple of aspirins helped to relieve the pain, and after a birdie at the 14th, and pars thereafter, he was more chipper about the final round.
"I was really ripping it today, and I've worn out my four-iron trying to keep the ball under the wind. I'm five shots off the pace (set by Welshman James Lee) but a lot can happen over this course. It's not over yet."
Overnight leader Jeremy Robinson from Evesham had one of those rounds he'll wish to forget. The former Walker Cup player signed for an 81 - but such was the scoring that he is still lying third going into the final round.
The 43-year-old had six bogeys, a double and a triple bogey to endure, lightened marginally by birdies at the second and 10th.
Robinson is now nine shots off the lead, but the Evesham pro's goal is now to finish in today's top seven, which will guarantee him a place to face the United States in the PGA Cup.
Mention should be made of a stunning inward half by Musselburgh's Fraser Mann, which in the conditions had the touch of magic about it.
A 33 - which equals the best of the championship done in much less stormy weather - was tacked onto an outward 41, and that 74 hoisted the Scot from 16th to a share of fourth.
He could now be bidding for his third selection for the PGA Cup team after appearances in 1996 and 2005.
18 June, 2009