Oliver Wilson today put himself on the brink of a Ryder Cup debut – just a day after being on the brink of despair.
Barring a sporting miracle, the Mansfield golfer will be cracking open the champagne with Justin Rose and Dane Soren Hansen tomorrow at the end of the year-long points race.
All three uncapped players are near-certainties for the side now with Ros
s Fisher and Nick Dougherty, the only two remaining players who could force their way in, running out of holes in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.
Wilson, in the hot seat of 10th on the points table entering the last counting event, made the halfway cut with nothing to spare last night after fighting back from six over par to two over.
And, despite a near-sleepless night, he produced a superb five-under-par 68 in the third round to move through the field.
That left Fisher needing to finish third or Dougherty second just to have a chance – even that might not be enough – but midway through their rounds they were not in the top 20.
"I was much more relaxed out there," said Wilson, poised to become the first player to make the European Ryder Cup side without ever winning a professional tournament.
"I was so tired first thing, though. I put so much into the first two days, but then woke up around 2am wide awake.
"I got back to sleep about 5.30 and then woke up again at six. But I played nicely and I'm in a good position now."
The last 10 holes of his second round had been the most important of his career so far and after playing them in four under, he went out and birdied the second, sixth, eighth and 12th.
A bogey did follow when he missed the 13th green, but he then made a 30-footer on the next and reached the green in two at the 543-yard 16th to add a sixth birdie.
The round took him from two over to three under. He was still four behind overnight leader Gregory Havret, but he was making the task of Fisher and Dougherty that much harder.
European Open champion Fisher, resuming on level par, birdied the second as well, but then double-bogeyed the next.
More birdies came on the sixth, 10th and 12th, but there were also bogeys at the eighth and ninth and so he stood level par and joint 42nd.
Dougherty was going better, but he had to finish higher.
The Liverpudlian teed off again on one under and in a tie for 23rd. He covered the front nine in a one under 35, but on two under after 10 had moved up only one spot.
Rose and Hansen, eighth and ninth on the table, were the other two players on course to make Faldo's side.
Hansen's two opening rounds of 71 had put him in joint fifth place on four under, while Rose was only two further back. They were certain to clinch a first cap if Dougherty and Fisher finished outside the top two.
In the separate scrap for Faldo's wild cards, Colin Montgomerie suffered an early setback when a bogey six on the second – playing partner Rose did the same – put him back to one under.
Darren Clarke and Paul Casey are the two favourites. Casey is in America, while Clarke covered the first seven holes in one over to be level par.
Wilson is looking forward to a rest almost as much as he is looking forward to making the team.
"I want to get fresh," he added. "I'm not thinking as clearly as I should.
"It's all a bit of fatigue. I've put a lot of effort into the last few months, especially the last two weeks."
The full article contains 641 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
