'Flat-lined' Ewen Ferguson opens up on growing as golfer and person in Dubai

”It's been really good being out here,” he admitted, speaking at Jumeirah Golf Estates on the eve of flying the Saltire along with Calum Hill and Grant Forrest in the $10 million DP World Tour Championship, the season-ending tournament on the 2026 DP World Tour. “It’s been good for my golf progress, travelling and just to help me kind of be stronger in this kind of life. It's not easy at times. You know, sometimes it can be pretty tough.”

Ferguson, a three-time DP World Tour winner, is making his fifth straight appearance in the season finale, having tied for ninth behind Dane Nicolai Hojgaard in 2023 after being in the third last group in the final round.

“Yeah, I feel like that is definitely something to be proud of,” admitted the 30-year-old of having made the 50-man field every season since securing his seat at the top table as a HotelPlanner Tour graduate at the end of the 2021 campaign. “I kind of forgot about that and then Goughie (Jamie Gough, his coach) texted me saying, ‘fifth appearance in a row, it's always a good sign to show that your golf's been in a good place for a long time’.

“I remember the first time I played it thinking, ‘I'll really enjoy it, I might not be back here that often’. And then, all of a sudden, you just keep doing good. And you get comfortable with your peers, don't you? And playing against them and dealing with things out here.”

Ferguson heads into this week’s event sitting 52nd in the Race to Dubai, having finished as high as 17th in his rookie season in 2022 and being a consistent campaigner since then. He’s chalked up six top-ten finishes this season but has been missing that one really big week.

“I had a pretty decent week last week to kind of squeeze in,” he said of finishing joint-18th behind Jon Rahm in the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship at Yas Links. “I'd rather be up there a little bit more often contending and, even after my top 10s, I’ve kind of gone home a little bit thinking ‘I could have been right in the mix there’.

“But my game this year has been consistent. My scoring average is lower than any other year. I've not probably putted as well to kind of get myself right in the mix to win a tournament, which has been a bit disappointing, but I've been working on it a lot and, you know, you have just got to keep doing it and then hopefully it comes at some point. You know, it might just come at the right week at the right time at a big one.”

If it comes in a big one - this is the fifth and final Rolex Series event on the DP World Tour schedule - on Sunday, he could be playing on the PGA Tour next season along with Bob MacIntyre and Sandy Scott. “I probably need a win or finish second to get that,” he said of the battle for ten cards on the US circuit in 2027. “That will be very difficult to do with the calibre of the field, but it is definitely not beyond me.

I know the course really well, I've done well here in the past. I know I can contend if I'm playing well. Yeah, I've definitely got high expectations for this week.”

Based on Rory McIlroy’s impressive record on it - he’s won this event three times, finished second on two other occasions and had another five top-five finishes - the Greg Norman-designed Earth Course is definitely one of those ‘big boy’s’ tests of golf.

“It's a proper course and, when I first moved here, I found it really daunting and I struggled the first time I played it,” admitted Ferguson. “It was the same with the Emirates (venue for the Hero Dubai Desert Classic). I was like, ‘these courses are really, really tough’.

“But I think living out here has really helped me with getting used to playing these big, tough, long courses. Course management is so crucial. You know, sometimes having a 7-iron is better than having a wedge and I feel like it's a course that helped me play a big part in my kind of progress.”

On the back of breaking into the top 100 in the world through his stellar season on the Korn Ferry Tour, Scott spoke recently about how he now has a Ryder Cup appearance in his sights and maybe even as early as next year’s centenary edition at Adare Manor. Is Ferguson thinking likewise?

“I’m probably not there at that level of playing the stature of tournaments week in, week out right now (to make Luke Donald’s team),” he admitted. “But I feel like I can be. So I'm just sticking to my own little job of just trying to get better at golf and playing as many big tournaments as I can and doing well.”

Throughout his amateur career and even in the early stages of his life as a professional, Ferguson was an excitable character and some would even say a bit cocky. To his credit, he’s matured into a really likeable young man and, even this year alone, he’s seen a difference in himself.

“I've been a bit calmer this year,” he said, smiling. “You know, I used to get a bit more probably up and down, angrier and happier and now probably a bit more flat lined, I'd say, which is probably a good thing for a golfer.”

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