Wakefield: never won on Tour
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Simon Wakefield defied winds gusting up to 50mph to card a superb third- round 70 and move into the thick of contention at Royal Birkdale.
The 34-year-old from Newcastle-under-Lyme, without a European Tour victory in 210 starts and ranked 252nd in the world, said: "It's bizarre. It's a long way off my mind at the moment. There's lots of golf to be played and it's a world-class field.
"I might not sleep tonight. It's very unfamiliar territory. I've led a tournament going into the final round - at the Johnnie Walker Championship last year - so I've been in the situation but obviously not in a major championship.
"I'm just going to try and relax tonight, get some sleep and not think about it, although that's tough to do. The crowd have been magnificent and I'm sure they will carry me around.
"It's a fairytale situation to be honest. All I can do is commit to my game tomorrow and do the best I can."
Wakefield had never played Birkdale before this week but has carded rounds of 71, 74 and 70 .
"I was here to watch Ian Baker-Finch win in 1991 and Mark O'Meara win in 1998," he added.
"I walked around a bit with Justin Rose, who I'd played amateur golf with, and David Gilford (a former Ryder Cup player) who was from my golf club."
Inspiration
Wakefield would climb to just outside an automatic qualifying place in the Ryder Cup standings if he wins the first prize of £750,000, and revealed it was Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo who inspired him to take up the game seriously.
"My birthday is in April around the time of the Masters and after watching Nick win in 1989 I decided I wanted my own set of clubs.
"Although the first one I remember was Sandy Lyle winning the year before, when he holed that putt on the 18th I was jumping around the kitchen."
