Abstract. The reaction58 Ni(p, 3 He) 56 Co was investigated in the range from 80 to 120 MeV in order to determine whether the analyzing power of the direct pickup process decreases towards higher incident energies. Such quenching of the analyzing power is suggested by studies of inclusive proton-induced 3 He emission into the continuum, in which the direct pickup is preceded by multiple intranuclear N-N interactions. In pickup to discrete final states, it is now found that, as the incident energy is increased, the signature of large analyzing power moves to smaller scattering angles. This behaviour is consistent with the trend found in earlier continuum studies, thus the present study allows an unambiguous interpretation of the quenching effect.