Ewen so close to landing Links title at St Andrews

Bearsden's Ewen Ferguson came within a couple of shots of heading an international-class field to land the prestigious St Andrews Links Trophy last weekend.
Ewen FergusonEwen Ferguson
Ewen Ferguson

The 19-year-old finished on a 10 under par total of 277 which left him in third place, just two shots adrift of winner Conor O’Rourke and one shot behind fellow Scot Sandy Scott.

And while he was frustrated to come so close to winning, the teenager said his week’s work gave him something to build on going into next week’s British Amateur Matchplay Championship.

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The tournament is the most prestigious prize in British amateur golf - previous winners have included the like of Sergio Garcia and Jose-Maria Olazabal - and this year’s 121st edition will be staged at Royal Porthcawl and Pyle & Kenfig from June 13-18.

And Ferguson is hopeful his play at St Andrews - particularly the kind of form he showed in a superb five-under par opening round of 66 - can stand him in good stead.

He said: “I worked hard at my game with my dad in the run-up to St Andrews because I had been playing a couple of Challenger events in Turkey and Italy where the ground was soft and then go to St Andrews where it was windy.

“You have to keep the ball on a bit lower trajectory because of that but I got off to a good start and shot five under.

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“I managed to keep things going but I think probably on the last day I tried too hard to force things.

“But overall I was very pleased and it gives me a bit of momentum going into this week. It’s another links course and hopefully I can take the form I showed at St Andrews into this one.

“It’s a match play event and there are differences from stroke play in the way you approach certain shots.

“But I try not to let it affect my game too much and I’ve done quite well in match play in the past.”

Leading Links Trophy scores -

275 - Conor O’Rourke (Ireland) 65 69 71 70.

276 - Sandy Scott (Nairn) 68 67 70 71.

277 - Ewen Ferguson (Bearsden) 66 70 70 71.

278 - Victor Veyret (France), Calum Fyfe (Cawder), James Savage (Cawder).

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