Ewen Ferguson brushed aside his rivals in a quest for a fourth Tour success with an impressive second round 64 for a superb three-shot halfway lead at the Soudal Open near Antwerp in Belgium.
The 28-year-old Scot posted seven birdies at Rinkven International GC as he completed a second successive bogey-free round for an 11-under-par total.
That was three shots clear of England’s Marco Penge, with Dutchman Darious Van Driel, American Troy Merritt and English trio John Parry, Brandon Robinson Thompson and Andrew Wilson sharing third on seven under.
Ferguson said: “I was hitting it really well on the range and I knew it was windy at the start so I was just thinking fairways and greens, don’t do anything too fancy. I’ve got a new putter in play this week and it felt good, I was rolling it nicely.
“Even my bad shots today, I still seemed to have some sort of a shot or made something out of it but the game kicks you often enough, so nice to make something out of it.
“I was in control of my ball today and when I was out of position I just got back in position and I was chipping really well, so I was always getting it up and down and that kept momentum going.
“I quite enjoy when a par is a good score. I find it tough sometimes when you just need to make birdies and there’s a lot of pressure on to make birdies. So when it’s quite tough like that to grind out pars, I feel comfortable.
Ferguson moves three shots clear in style#SoudalOpen pic.twitter.com/dGC0Ao2XC6
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 23, 2025
Ferguson birdied the first and third from inside five feet and picked up another shot by holing from the edge of the ninth green.
The three-time DP World Tour winner then birdied the 11th, 13th and 16th before picking up his most unlikely gain of the day on the 17th.
Having driven into trees down the left, Ferguson was forced to hack out with his second and still had 238 yards of the par five to go standing over his third. He missed the green to the right but spectacularly holed his pitch for birdie.
Ferguson added: “It worked out well for me today.
“You just need to hold on Saturday – you can’t win on Saturday but you can definitely lose.
“Just keep yourself in there, Marco’s full of confidence – I’m good friends with him as well so it will be a good duel.”
Penge, who recently won the Hainan Classic, mixed five birdies and two bogeys in his 68.
Grant Forrest added a 71 to his opening 69 to be just inside the top-40 at two-under but with Calum Hill (72 & 71) and Scott Jamieson (74 & 71) each missing the cut.
