Scotland's Ewen Ferguson will take a four-shot lead into the final round of the Magical Kenya Open as he seeks a maiden victory on the DP World Tour.
Ferguson carded an eagle and four birdies in a third round of 66 at Muthaiga Golf Club to reach 14 under par, with Sweden's Marcus Kinhult and China's Ashun Wu on 10 under.
“It would be unbelievable to win obviously, but I think with everything going on in the world right now golf just means so little and I think that’s in the back of everyone’s minds,” Ferguson said.
“I think that’s pretty key as well, there’s so much other stuff going on so I’ll try my best tomorrow and try to grind out the win but if it doesn’t happen I’ll be back again for another chance.”
Ferguson began the day a shot off the lead but made the ideal start with a birdie on the first and eagled the par-five fourth before dropping his only shot of the day on the sixth.
Three birdies on the back nine gave the 25-year-old Glaswegian a welcome cushion heading into the final day, just three weeks after he finished 130th in a 132-man field in the Ras Al Khaimah Classic following rounds of 76 and 78.
“I just kind of wrote that Ras Al Khaimah tournament off because I was just sitting in my room for eight days [with Covid] and didn’t touch a club,” Ferguson added.
“I went back home, practised with my coach and family and just didn’t let it get under my skin.”
Halfway leader Shubhankar Sharma struggled to a third round of 75 to fall eight shots off the lead.
Niall Kearney recovered from opening with three straight bogeys by making an eagle three on the par-four fourth before back-to-back birdies on the seventh and eighth holes got the Dubliner under par by the turn.
He went on to card two more birdies and a bogey to sign for a two-under 69 and a share of 39th position on three under.
Paul Dunne sits on level par after a level-par 71, Jonathan Caldwell is a shot further back after a 72, while Cormac Sharvin's seven-over 78 left him on the same mark for the tournament.
LEADERBOARD
199 Ewen Ferguson 66 67 66
203 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 71 68 64, Ashun Wu (Chn) 69 68 66
204 Jorge Campillo (Esp) 70 69 65, David Horsey 69 70 65, Matthias Schmid (Ger) 69 71 64, Sebastian Garcia (Esp) 70 68 66
205 Thomas Detry (Bel) 71 68 66, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 67 66 72, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 69 68 68, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 70 68 67
206 Thriston Lawrence (Rsa) 69 66 71, Connor Syme 69 71 66, Scott Jamieson 69 73 64, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 71 68 67, Hurly Long (Ger) 68 68 70
207 Daniel Gavins 64 73 70, Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 65 67 75, Lukas Nemecz (Aut) 68 70 69, Espen Kofstad (Nor) 69 70 68, Craig Howie 70 69 68, Garrick Porteous 68 70 69, Jesper Svensson (Swe) 70 66 71
208 Jayden Schaper (Rsa) 70 67 71, Julien Brun (Fra) 68 71 69, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Esp) 73 69 66, Niklas Noergaard Moeller (Den) 72 67 69, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 70 68 70, Angel Hidalgo (Esp) 68 68 72, Lee Slattery 66 73 69, Max Schmitt (Ger) 70 69 69, Stuart Manley 70 71 67
209 Joachim B Hansen (Den) 71 69 69, Marcus Armitage 69 73 67, Njoroge Kibugu (Ken) 70 66 73, Adria Arnaus (Esp) 69 69 71, Santiago Tarrio (Esp) 70 69 70, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 70 68 71
210 Justin Harding (Rsa) 68 70 72, Johannes Veerman (USA) 65 73 72, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 69 72 69, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 68 73 69, David Drysdale 70 71 69, Yannik Paul (Ger) 74 68 68, Oliver Farr 70 71 69, Niall Kearney 70 71 69, Hennie Du Plessis (Rsa) 70 67 73, Jens Dantorp (Swe) 69 72 69, Alfie Plant 70 68 72
211 Antoine Rozner (Fra) 69 72 70, Marcus Helligkilde (Den) 69 70 72
212 Dean Burmester (Rsa) 67 69 76, Daniel van Tonder (Rsa) 68 69 75, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 68 73 71, Wil Besseling (Ned) 67 73 72, Frederic Lacroix (Fra) 70 72 70, Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 71 70 71, Renato Paratore (Ita) 68 71 73, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 75 67 70
213 Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 69 70 74, David Law 68 70 75, Paul Dunne 70 72 71, Blake Windred (Aus) 71 68 74
214 Jonathan Caldwell 76 66 72, Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 72 69 73, Ashley Chesters 68 71 75, Ricardo Santos (Por) 72 70 72, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 72 67 75
215 Matt Ford 70 72 73, Henric Sturehed (Swe) 72 70 73
217 Chris Paisley 69 70 78, Ben Evans 71 71 75
219 Matthew Jordan 71 70 78
220 Adrian Meronk (Pol) 71 68 81, Cormac Sharvin 70 72 78
