Ewen Ferguson puts smile on dad's face after it had been 'tripping him'

The 2-4 sign off on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates saw Dubai-based Ferguson sign for a two-under 70 as he joined Grant Forrest (68), Bob MacIntyre (69) and Connor Syme (69) in red figures after the first round in the DP World Tour's season finale.

Before signing for his card, Ferguson went over for a hug with a large group of people that included mum and dad Mark and Dorothy and brother Lewis as well.

“It can actually go either way,” said Ferguson of having more people than normal following him around in the Rolex Series event. “A couple of times when I missed a putt and you look up and see your dad’s face is tripping him is a bit annoying.

“But then when you hole a putt is nice and at the end there it is really good as he’s saying ‘ah, my boy’ and I’m joking ‘you weren’t saying that on the ninth were you? (laughing).”

Forrest fared best among five Scots in the 52-player field after producing some short-game magic early on before using his length of the tee to set up some opportunities on the back nine.

"It wasn’t the perfect round of golf by any means, but, yeah, it is obviously a good score," said the Nexo Championship winner. “There’s a big premium on tee shots and I think I have a big advantage out here on this course because I can carry a lot of the bunkers and, if I drive it well, it does set up a lot of chances.”

‘Yeah, pretty pleased after bad start’

Syme's opening effort was also praiseworthy after he found himself two over heading to the fifth tee but then turned his day around with an eagle at the seventh after already making a birdie from out of a fairway bunker at the fifth.

“It’s a tricky golf course and you don’t really want to get off to a bad start,” said the KLM Open champion. “At the same time, the first few holes are a bit tricky and, although I was two over, it wasn’t absolutely the end of the world. But I guess it was important that I made my eagle and birdie quite quickly. Yeah, overall, pretty pleased."

Calum Hill was the odd one out among the Caledonian contingent as a double-bogey 5 at the 17th left him having to settle for a par 72 after being three under through eight holes.