Ewen Ferguson will take a four-shot lead into the final round of the 2022 Magical Kenya Open presented by Absa as he looks for a first win on the DP World Tour.
The Scot entered day three at Muthaiga Golf Club a shot off the lead but ended it with a commanding advantage as a 66 moved him to 14 under.
Swede Marcus Kinhult and China's Wu Ashun were his nearest challengers, with Spanish duo Jorge Campillo and Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez, England's David Horsey and German Matti Schmid five shots off the lead.
Ferguson enjoyed a stellar amateur career, winning the Boys Amateur Championship, the Scottish Boys and the Scottish Boys Stroke Play, while also helping Scotland win the European Team Championship and Great Britain & Ireland win the Walker Cup.
He made 31 appearances on the DP World Tour between 2016 and 2021 but has full playing privileges for the first time this season after finishing eighth on last season's Road to Mallorca on the European Challenge Tour.
After a top 40 finish in his Rolex Series debut at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, he saw his season interrupted by testing positive for Covid but he has shown few signs of any ill effects in Nairobi, with rounds of 66-67-66 putting him in pole position to be the third first-time Scottish winner in seven months on the DP World Tour.
“I was playing really well coming into the day, made a nice birdie on one which I think really settles you down a little bit," he said. "I managed to plod my way along. I made a couple of mistakes which, when you’re playing well, you still come out with par.
“I think that was the key today, momentum just kept going, I was holing clutch three or four-foot putts to keep me going and I just played nicely and plodded my way around.
“I played well in Abu Dhabi, but then just wrote that next tournament off, went back home, practised with my coach and family and just didn’t let it get under my skin.
“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. 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.”
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 birdied the first from 12 feet to join Shubhankar Sharma at the top of the leaderboard and then put a brilliant second to ten feet at the par-five fourth to set up an eagle and lead by two.
His lead was cut to one at the turn thanks to a dropped shot at the sixth but he re-established his cushion with a two-putt birdie on the par-five tenth.
The final group of Sharma and Masahiro Kawamura could not find any momentum and when Ferguson holed a 20-footer on the 14th, he was five shots clear of anyone else still on course.
Kinhult had set the clubhouse target at ten under after a 64 which matched the lowest round of his DP World Tour career and the lowest of the week.
He won on the Nordic Golf League last week for a first victory since he missed three months of the 2021 season after being diagnosed with epilepsy and he has brought that form to Nairobi.
The 25-year-old had a birdie-eagle finish to go with six other gains and two bogeys.
Wu joined him in double figures with a 66 as, after birdieing the fourth and giving the shot back on the eighth, he found form around the turn.
He picked up shots on the ninth and tenth, put his tee-shot to six feet at the 11th and holed a 15-footer on the 13th before making birdie from similar range on his penultimate hole.
That had him within three shots of Ferguson but the leader got up and down on the par-five last for a closing birdie and a four-shot advantage.
Reigning Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Schmid matched Kinhult with a 64, while Campillo and Horsey both carded rounds of 65 and Garcia Rodriguez signed for a 66.
Kawamura was at eight under alongside Canadian Aaron Cockerill, Belgian Thomas Detry and Frenchman Matthieu Pavon.
