A putting tip from his wife paid rich dividends for Gordon J Brand who stormed into contention at the De Vere Collection PGA Seniors Championship at Slaley Hall.
The former Ryder Cup player fired a four under par third round 68 including four birdies in five holes in a sensational burst of scoring between 11 and 15.
The 53-year-old credited wife Lyn, a former professional golfer, with his success on the greens which catapulted him to the top of the leaderboard at one over par with a 217 total.
"I worked on a few things before I went out with my wife's help because she reckons she can putt," said Brand who has three Seniors titles to his name.
"She keeps threatening to bin the one I've got but I've managed to keep hold of it.
"She was a pro for two years so I can't ignore her."
"I putted well today, I did have a three putt somewhere but I made up for it by holing plenty on the back nine especially.
"I'm a lot happier, I actually got more than one putt in a row. Anyone can get one in but to get two or three in succession your brain believes you can get some more.
"Everyone is finding it hard to get the pace of the greens because they are quite severe."
He leads by two shots from Spain's Hospital Domingo who was briefly clubhouse leader after shooting a two under par 70.
"It was a super round, everything went right and there were some tough holes," said Hospital.
"I made bogey on nine which is almost a par but the rest was OK."
Overnight leaders Ross Drummond and Juan Quiros had 76s to finish four over for the tournament alongside Andrew Murray - three shots behind Brand.
Drummond, searching for his first win on the Seniors Tour, struggled on the greens and admitted a string of missed short putts had spooked him.
"I think it all came down to my putting at the end of the day," he said.
"I played well enough tee to green, probably not as much contral as in the first two rounds but certainly well enough.
"I missed so many short putts. I missed a couple on the front nine, missed a tiny one on 12 from two-and-a-half feet for birdie. I then three putted 14 from three feet and that just spooks you a little bit and my stroke was just terrible."