Big Interview: Ryder Cup memories burn bright for Peter Baker

“That was the highlight of my career,” he smiles, 25 years later. “I beat Corey Pavin in the singles, and beat Fred Couples and Paul Azinger in the four-ball with Woosy [Ian Woosnam].

“That was a big year. I won a couple of tournaments and played well in the Ryder Cup.”

Baker was just 25 at the time and ranked 67 in the world. He was the second youngest golfer in the competition and the lowest-ranked player in the European team.

But even though Europe lost that year, Baker finished as one of their stars with three wins and one defeat.

And to say he and Woosnam beat Couples and Azinger, who were ranked five and six in the world at the time, is somewhat of an understatement.

They demolished them six and five to leave Europe one point ahead going into Sunday’s singles.

But Baker, who grew up in Codsall and now lives “1,000 yards” from his old house in Tettenhall, is refusing to live on past glories.

Having recently turned 50, the South Staffordshire Golf Club professional is enjoying a second career on the European Senior Tour.

"I'm enjoying the competition side of it,” he said. “It's funny because I haven't done it for a while so I’m getting used to it again.

“It's nice to get another chance, in a way. It’s a little bit more relaxed, but funnily enough I was leading the other week going into the last round and it felt weird.

“I felt a bit under pressure, a bit edgy. I thought ‘bloody hell, I haven't done this for a while’. It's about getting used to that pressure. Hopefully I'll calm down a bit.”

Senior Tours are serious business these days. Baker has watched one of his friends Paul Broadhurst, from Walsall, win the 2016 Senior Open and this year’s Senior PGA Championship.

Broadhurst took home $585,000 for winning that second major and has made a staggering $1.1million so far this year across the pond on the PGA Champions Tour.

Baker’s winnings from the European Senior Tour are slightly more modest but turning 50 can give golfers a second crack of the whip.

However, the 2006 Ryder Cup vice-captain is picking and choosing his battles these days.

“When I played on the main tour I did nearly 600 tournaments so I missed a lot of my kids growing up,” he admitted.

“I'd better make it up to them now. They are 25 and 26 so they're well on the way though.”

It’s not just a case of dusting off the old clubs and raking in the cash though, because it takes more work getting back into shape once you’re the other side of 50.

“This last year I've done a bit more gym work, more stretching work, trying to make myself more durable,” he said. “I don't think there's a better exercise than swinging the club though.

“You can't quite go at it like you used to because you're in bits the next day.

“If you keep swinging it helps, rather than have a week off, because then you're stiff. It's hard work on the joints, you do get a bit sore.

“You get to know yourself a bit better. You're always looking to recover a bit better, ice baths etc.

"And then if you’ve played well a nice cold beer, that's how we used to do it, nothing wrong with that. It’s a bit of a rehydration!”

But life on Tour is not necessarily as glamorous as it appears.

“It's not so much the long days,” he says. “It's the travelling and the hotels, they’re all the same.

“It's different to going on holiday, any businessman will tell you that. The enjoyable bit is playing the golf obviously, getting out on the course and playing, you meet a lot of nice people, that's a plus.

“The travelling is the hard bit, week after week, hotels are hotels. There are a lot of tougher jobs than the one I’ve got but every job has its downsides to it.”

Baker is not really a man to complain too much. He has a ready smile and a warm chuckle, and when the conversation turns to his beloved Wolves side, he starts to really enjoy himself.

“I've been a season ticket holder since I was four,” he boasts. “I used to go with my dad. Since then I've missed about four seasons, that's about it.

“I've been through it all. I've missed some games but you find a way of watching them these days on a stream or something.

“Last season was brilliant. I didn't miss many games, but it's totally different to what we've ever had.

“It's exciting football, it's entertaining, they're organised, look like they know what they're doing.

“We tried to play a little bit like that with [Stale] Solbakken, and [Mark] McGhee, but you can't turn the players they had into playing that way.

“The players we've got now can play that way. The lads that Nuno has kept, like [Matt] Doherty, he can play that way and he's helped them, improved them.

“The transfer window for us last year was amazing bar one or two, it was an incredible percentage ratio. If we hit that ratio this year it'll be fantastic. If you get 50 per cent of them right you're doing well.”

So what does Baker, a season ticket holder at Molineux for more than 40 years, think of Wolves’s controversial link with super-agent Jorge Mendes?

“My opinion on that is you've got to be with the best to be the best,” he shrugs. “It's a bit like having the best golf coach, you want to learn from the best.

“You get the best person you can in to do the job, whatever it is, physio, manager, agent.

“Whatever it is, deal with the best guys and you'll be in the game. It looks like Wolves are in the game.

“We don't want to get too carried away this season. Firstly we've got to get 40 points. After that you can look to move up the table.

“We’ve got to stay up this year, I know that sounds a bit negative but it’s not. Stay up and then get the players in and build for the following season, then you can start looking at things.”

Next weekend though, Baker will be watching the Ryder Cup at the Albatros Course of Le Golf National just as closely as Wolves’s home match with Southampton.

“The good news for us is we've played that course quite a bit,” he said. “I know everyone is favouring the Americans, but I think we can do it, I think we can beat them there, we've got a good chance.

“The Americans are always strong but we've got a lot of talented players. It's all about performing on the day, it's such a fine line.”

Baker knows all about that, but 25 years on from the most successful year of his career, he’s hoping to have another one.

“If I can win one tournament, that'd be great,” he says, with a glint in his eye. “And then I’ll just go from there and keep improving at this old decrepit age. Hopefully I've got a few years left in me!”