Ewen

Ferguson

The 41-year entered the week just 156th in the DP World Tour Rankings but he felt much better about his game than the results suggested. “I was so confident. I knew I could get the job done. Everything I’ve done to this point to rebuild my game, I knew I could do it... I love this place. I’ve done well here before. My game has been trending in the right direction. There’s been a lot of good stuff this year, I just haven’t been able to put it all together.” He certainly flipped that script in Denmark this week, carding 25 birdies and an eagle to erase a six-pack of blemishes. He was either clutch or lucky down the stretch, depending on how you view things. Wilson rolled in a pair of birdie bombs from outside of 60 feet on his homeward nine today, clipping Eewn Ferguson by one shot when all was said and done. Wilson jumps to 28th in the DP World Tour Rankings with this finish.

The career year continues for the young Scot who arrived at 17th in the season-long DP World Tour Rankings with a pair of wins on his game log. He played alongside fellow Scot, Robert MacIntyre, and Thomas Bjorn today. The highlight of his round was a hole-out eagle from 140 yards at the par-4 first, his 10th hole of the day. “Because I was playing pretty well I thought I was just going to hammer the wedge straight at it.” He picked up two more birdies before his day was over. At the time of signing, he briefly held the course record, “I think that’s my third course record in the last couple of months,” but got passed up later in the day by Ross McGowan.

The 26-year-old Scot broke his maiden with a win at the Qatar Masters in March. He finished outside of the top 20 in his next 11 events before flashing some form with a T12 at the Cazoo Open. Ferguson snowballed that momentum into a win this week at Galgorm Castle. Ferguson vaulted to 17th in the DP World Tour Rankings and also jumps to 168th in the OWGR. The youngster is certainly having a breakout campaign and could be a name to watch in bigger events in the near future.

The young Scot just turned 26 yesterday. He gave himself a nice birthday present today with a 5-birdie 67 to kick off his national open. Ferguson went out in the calmer, morning wave, and landed 11 greens in regulation. From there, he gained more than three shots with his short game to catapult himself inside of the top 10. “I’m in the greatest place I’ve been in my golf life. I’ve got a win and stuff like that. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t be here. Yeah, feel great but about my golf life, I feel like I’m improving and I’m on the right track. Even today I can just learn from some of these guys. I’m playing with PGA TOUR champions today and Presidents Cup players, so it’s pretty cool and hopefully I can learn off them.” After day one he is one stroke ahead of Russell Knox for the honors of Low Scot.

The 25-year-old Ferguson, who’s missed just one cut in six DPWT starts this season, started the day two strokes behind 54-hole co-leaders Adrian Meronk and Matthew Jordan. But as the leaders fell off the pace, Ferguson took advantage and rallied down the stretch – making eagle at 16 and birdie at 18 – to shoot 2-under 70 and finish at 7-under 281. “I just can’t believe it at all,” he said afterward. “Years and years of hard work. My mum, dad, sister and brother and all my family gave me everything to try and get to this moment and it’s an absolute dream come true.” Ferguson had just two top-10 finishes prior to Qatar, finishing T-8 earlier this year at the Magical Kenya Open and a solo third at the 2019 Belgian Knockout. The DPWT will break until after the Masters, April 7-10, and will resume with the ISPS Handa Championship in Spain, April 21-24.

The 25-year-old Scotsman held a four-shot lead heading into the final round thanks to 5-under 66 on Saturday. However, Ferguson shared his pragmatic approach to the tournament a following his third round: “It would be unbelievable to win, obviously, but I think with everything going on in the world right now, golf just means so little and I think that’s in the back of everyone’s minds,” he said. “I think that’s pretty key as well, there’s so much other stuff going on, so I’ll try my best tomorrow and try to grind out the win, but if it doesn’t happen, I’ll be back again for another chance.” Ferguson has made 31 DPWT appearances between 2016 and 2021, but he secured full playing privileges for the first time this season after finishing eighth last season on the Challenge Tour’s Road to Mallorca. After a top-40 finish in his Rolex Series debut at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship (T-39), his season was interrupted by COVID-19, but he returned to action in Kenya with rounds of 66-67-66 to move into the pole position in his bid to become the third first-time Scottish winner in seven months on the DPWT.

The Scot enjoyed a sparkling week at Rinkven International GC in Antwerp which started with stroke play qualification in T17 on 5-under and was followed by smooth progress in the medal match play. He was 8-under through 27 holes on Saturday and opened Sunday with 1-under to defeat Gavin Green. For the first time in the knockout stage he failed to break par in the semi final and lost to Guido Migliozzi scoring level-par, but he responded in style in the third/fourth place match, thrashing 3-under to better Gregory Havret and claim a career best European Tour effort.