Dubai resident Ewen Ferguson had a finish to remember in his bogey-free 65 on Friday afternoon, taking a one-shot lead into the weekend of the 36th edition of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.

The Scot, whose apartment in Dubai Marina overlooks Emirates Golf Club, finished his second round with a birdie-eagle finish on the 17th and 18th holes of the Majlis Course after some “local knowledge” on the par-five last hole, with a bounce back off the hospitality boards giving him a six-foot putt for eagle, taking him to a 12-under-par total.

“Honestly, 7-wood and 3-wood into the wind, getting a bit colder as the day was getting late. I thought, you know, what, I’m just going to go to the back, and even if I have to go into the drop zone, I’m just going to splash it out.

“If I had a 15-footer on the last, I would have been fine with that. Still, I would have made that for a good day, but a wee bit of luck goes a long way,” said the 28-year-old.

Victory here on Sunday afternoon would easily be Ferguson’s biggest scalp to date, having already claimed three DP World Tour titles since March 2022. The US$9 million prize pot on offer in this first Rolex Series event of the season on the DP World Tour would set him up very nicely for the remainder of the season.

“Yeah, 36 holes played, leading so far is great.

“It’s nice to be doing well, and as big as this is, with some of the players that are playing, it’s really, really cool, and I’m proud of myself.”

Just one shot back from the recent Emirates Golf Club ambassador is Kiwi Daniel Hillier, who equalled Ferguson with the lowest round of the day, a seven-under-par 65 on Friday.

“Two very different days of golf,” said Hillier. “I think day one, striped it off the tee and gave myself a lot of chances. Just a solid round of golf. Today a few extra putts went in than I was expecting. Yeah, it’s nice to see those drop and hopefully they keep dropping.”

Ewen and Daniel have a bit of breathing space from the rest of the pack. Their closest competition is at eight-under-par, with Jason Scrivener, Tyrrell Hatton, Shaun Norris, and Laurie Canter all tied for third.

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Defending champion and four-time winner of the event, Rory McIlroy, is at three-under-par. Meanwhile, two-time Major Champion Jon Rahm’s 77 on the Majlis saw him make an early exit from the event.

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