Steven Jeffress admits he is looking forward to taking it to the young blokes after shooting himself into the last group for Sunday’s final round at the Oates Vic Open.
The 42-year-old carded a six-under 66 to move into second, a shot behind outright leader Simon Hawke.
Jeffress is almost 20 years the senior of the four other golfers inside the top three and he will be calling on that experience when the wind picks up on 13th Beach on Sunday.
“It’s good, these young blokes hit it past you, bomb it past you 40m all day and all of a sudden you go ‘what did you have?’, ‘(and they say) 71’, (and I reply) ‘oh, I had 68’. It’s nice doing that,” Jeffress joked.
“I’ve just got to keep thinking well, keep doing what I can do to keep up with them.
“I believe I am very good flighting the golf ball, either keeping the spin off it or adding a bit of spin if you need to. The young guys now pound it out there a million miles
“I can hit a six iron 120m or 165m, that’s a strength to me, a big bonus to me playing in these conditions.”
There were plenty of highlights in Jeffress’ round on Saturday, but the eagles on the par-five second and the par-four 15th stole the show.
“Eagles always help. I hit a driver on the 15th to six foot and I hit three wood, two iron onto the second to about six foot also,” Jeffress said.
“I holed those two (putts). Anytime one eagle is good, two is even better.”
Jeffress won’t be putting any extra pressure on himself despite closing in on his first Australasian Tour victory since claiming the 2014 Fiji International.
“Well it's the same sort of deal tomorrow. I assume the weather is going to be similar,” he said.
“And if it's similar, you're going to you know that if you shoot two-under (then it) may be good enough.
“(But it) may not be, you know, one-under might be good. So for me I don't really set scores when it's like this.
“I’m going to play the best I can and if the best I can do is good enough, well that's great.”
Cory Crawford and Harrison Endycott sit at eight-under, while Friday’s leader Anthony Quayle sits a shot behind at seven-under with Kieran Muir and Ashley Hall.
Jordan Zunic is in eighth at six-under.
The wind claimed plenty of high profile victims on Saturday, with former champions Richard Green and Dimi Papadatos both missing the final round cut.
Green signed off on a one-over 73 yesterday, taking him to one-under for the tournament.
A bogey on the par-five 18th sealed his fate, missing the cut by just one shot.
Papadatos had a nightmare six-over round, sliding from being in contention to three-over for the championship.