How long is a piece of string? Just long enough to sort out putting woes for Ewen Ferguson and send him on a record-smashing comeback at the Hero Open.
The Qatar Masters champion came roaring back into contention with an 11-under 61 at Fairmont St Andrews, putting him into the chase of halfway leader Scott Crocker.
Ferguson’s fellow Scots Scott Jamieson, on 14-under, and David Law (-13) are one and two shots back respectively of the American.
It was another spectacular scoring day in benign conditions with the cut falling at five-under. But nobody matched Ferguson, whose coach Jamie Gough – former Scotland captain Richard’s brother – got him sorted out on the putting green on Friday morning.
‘I started banging them in after that’
1️⃣1️⃣ Birdies
7️⃣ Pars@EwboF breaks the course record at @FairmontStA in style ✍️#HeroOpen— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 29, 2022
“Yesterday the tempo was out (he shot 73) and I felt knackered this morning, well out of it because scoring had been so low,” admitted Ferguson.
“But Goughie came up to me on the putting green with a piece of string that he put on the ground, and told me to start hitting putts.
“I could immediately see the line on my putter was aiming left. So Goughie got me to put my hands forward and took a video so I could see it actually looked normal.
“I started banging them in after that. A good one for par at my first (the 10th) and another for birdie at 11 and I could feel it again.”
Ewen had five more birdies in a row and went out in 29 strokes. But he wasn’t thinking about a 59 as he played the outward half, where there’s usually more scoring chances than the back nine.
‘Every putt you looked at you could see it’
Why Ewen Ferguson's Qatar win is the best news yet for the Scottish New Wave plus…
What the OGWR is for, and who we should WANT to play on the SGL.https://t.co/9mD5Ok67PI via @thecourieruk
— Steve Scott (@C_SScott) March 28, 2022
“Connor (Syme) shot -9 in a tournament before and he’s always reminding me of it, so I was thinking about that,” said the 26-year-old.
“I was only focused on getting the ball on the green due to the fact I was putting so well. Even if I could just skank it up the fairway onto the green, I was feeling confident I would hole it.”
He went on to pinch the course record from playing partner and friend Crocker, who bemoaned he’d only held it with Thursday 63 “for about 10 hours”.
“It was one of those days,” added Ferguson. “The numbers were always right and every putt you looked at you could see it.
“Sean and I were good friends on the Challenge Tour. He stayed at my house at the weekend and we had a night out with friends and relaxed, really. It obviously worked for both of us!
“It would be unbelievable (to win on Scottish soil), but I’m not even thinking about that at the moment. I’m just happy to have the course record and get myself back in contention for the weekend.”
‘I don’t think I’ve done that before’
Crazy first 12 holes for one of my #HeroOpen tips David Law today. Only one par so far!@WinDailySports pic.twitter.com/ksif57lrSh
— David Bieleski (@deepdivegolf) July 29, 2022
As Ferguson blazed, David Law plotted a steady course. He’s just two off Crocker’s lead and put himself in solid position for Saturday, although his first nine holes were anything but solid – seven birdies, two bogeys.
“When I made a par on the first – my tenth – I thought to myself ‘that is the first one today’. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before.
“All the putts I holed today were from medium range and my total footage today would have been really high.
“I’ve putted really well the first two days. I’m pretty happy where the game is at – it’s in decent shape.
“But, if I’m going to be in contention over the weekend, I probably need to hit it a little bit better than I have done so far.
‘It’s not so firm and fast’
“We are expecting a little bit of wind tomorrow. That might be a day when two or three-under might be a decent score, even if Sunday is going to be more like this.
“It’s a completely different test here to what we had down the road in The Open. It’s not firm and fast, which I’d like to see, to be honest. That’s why the scoring has been so low.
“I think it’s been a tournament we Scots have done well in over the past couple of years. Grant obviously won last year while myself and Calum were up there as well, and Connor too.
“It’s good for the tournament and it would be nice to see some people out supporting us over the weekend.”