A late round eagle sent Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson soaring towards a hopeful third Tour success in the Jonsson Workwear Open at Stern City to the north of Joburg in South Africa.

Early morning rain delayed the start of play by three-and-a-half hours till 11am and when the co-sanctioned event got under way, Ferguson didn’t wait.

The 25-year-old Scot was five-under for his round when he dropped back-to-back shots at 14 and 15, but he bounced back in brilliantly landing a second shot, 7-wood shot to three feet at the par-5 16th for an easy tap-in, and then birdied the next in a round of 66 for a 15-under tally on the host The Club course.

The Bearsden golfers bounce back sees him heading to the last day sharing sixth spot though only two off the lead held by German Alexander Knappe, posting a 65 to be one clear of the field at 17-under.

Ferguson, who shared third last week at Eastern Cape, said: “Golf is never going to be plain sailing, so the eagle and the birdie, kind of made up for the two bogeys.

“I had got away with a couple of shots in the middle of my round, so I then had two great shots into the 16th hitting driver and then 7-wood to about three-feet.  So, I tapped that in. Then at the next I holed the putt for birdie, and nearly bogeyed the next to try and squeeze into the last group but anyway it’s still a good round.

“I’m now really looking forward to tomorrow.  You don’t get that many chances to win and when you have them, you go for it.  If not, and it doesn’t work out, you come back and try and do it again.

“So, I am just going to give it everything and see where it takes me”.

Ferguson is a two-time winner on the DP World, breaking through near on one year ago, 27th March, 2022, to win the CB Qatar Masters and then won a second Tour title some five month’s later in winning the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland.