Ewen Ferguson breathed in deeply. He’d been asked for his thoughts after Saturday’s third round of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, and his immediate ones were still fresh.
Ferguson wanted to talk about a talk.
“Kind of ruined the day a little bit,” he said.
How so? Prior to it, his play at Emirates Golf Club had been strong. He’d led entering the day. Through 14, he was a shot back. Walking to the 15th green, though, he was approached by rules official Mark Litton, who said his threesome was being put on the clock — and Ferguson subsequently stumbled.
He finished 15 with a par. On the par-4 16th, he went left off the tee and right of the green with his second shot before bogeying. On the par-4 17th, he three-putted from 51 feet. A closing birdie, after a third shot to within inches, was masterful, but Ferguson was stung. Hitting his second shot on 16, he was tied for the lead; he’ll now start Sunday’s final round three back of leader Daniel Hillier and two back of Tyrrell Hatton, who’s in second.
Afterward, Ferguson said he was confused by the warning.
“Yeah, it was hard, but I felt like I was grinding well,” he said. “Then they put us on the clock on 15, walking to the 15th green, and then the 16th, honestly for no reason. I knew we were going to be waiting on 17, 18, anyway, and I felt like I started rushing our play with a little intensity anyway. And all of a sudden I felt like I was too amped up and couldn’t calm down and kind of ruined the day a little bit.
“Yeah, a bit sour, but birdieing the last keeps me in the last group. You know, last group on a Sunday is where you want to be. Playing with guys like Tyrrell and Dan is going to be good, and hopefully I can do my best.”
Following the warning, Ferguson’s score was highest among his threesome. Hillier parred 16, then birdied 17 and 18 — with the latter coming after he dropped his third shot to 3 feet — while Jason Scrivener parred 16, bogeyed 17 and birdied 18.
It wasn’t immediately clear how far the grouping had fallen behind. On Golf Channel’s broadcast, Ferguson’s group was shown teeing off on the par-3 15th, then viewers saw the grouping that was ahead of them hitting their second shots on 16.
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“Yeah, I struggled today,” Ferguson said, “but I knew every time I’ve won and done well in tournaments, there’s always a day where you’re not quite great. Honestly, yesterday every yardage was the perfect yardage for the shot that I wanted to hit, and today I had awkward yardages, didn’t like the pin positions, didn’t like the lies that I had. Not that they were bad lies, but just lies that didn’t suit my eye for the shot that I wanted to hit. Stuff like that. I could just feel it was tough. …
“So just going to do my best, stick in there and hopefully a little bit of magic happens on Sunday. Chip-in on the last or hole a shot somewhere and you never know.”
A win would be the 28-year-old Scotsman’s fourth on the DP World Tour.
“I’ll just stick to my wee game,” Ferguson said. “I’ll just do my own wee thing and Tyrrell probably is the man to beat, let’s be honest. He’s a bit of a superstar; he knows how to win. Pressure doesn’t seem to bother him too much. He’s got the full package in his golf game.
“But at the same time for me, it’s not all about winning the tournament. I said before, like getting in these positions is sometimes a win on its own, and this is a step towards kind of doing things like this more regularly. And learning to play tomorrow with someone as high class as Tyrrell will be something that even if I play awful, is still going to have me in really good stead going forward.
“Last year at this time of the year, a tournament like this, I didn’t think I would be doing this well. So yeah, I feel like I’m getting better all the time.”
