Ewen Ferguson may have seen the start of his first full season on the DP World Tour interrupted by a case of Covid but he was showing no ill effects on day two of the 2022 Magical Kenya Open presented by Absa.
The Scot made 31 appearances between 2016 and 2021 but has full playing privileges for the first time in 2022 after finishing eighth on last season's Road to Mallorca on the European Challenge Tour.
A top 40 finish in his Rolex Series debut at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship was an excellent start to life on Tour for Ferguson but he would then go on to catch Covid and missed the cut by 13 shots on his return at the Ras Al Khaimah Classic.
But with a full recovery and some practice under his belt, he has started 66-67 at Muthaiga Golf Club to sit at nine under heading into the weekend.
“I’m really happy," he said. "After getting Covid a couple of weeks ago and not feeling my best out on the course, I went home and practised, did some work with my coach, did some work in the gym and went to Dubai a few days early and worked on my swing. It has felt good the last few days so I’m happy with where I’m at.
“I had it together a little bit before but just with not picking up a club for eight or nine days with having Covid, I kind of lost my feelings a little bit .
"But then I got a bit of work done and managed to hit my little fade again and hitting it on the fairways, making some putts here and there as well."
Ferguson had a single dropped shot in round two with five birdies and revealed he was glad to be getting used to playing at altitude.
"I’ve been hitting driver far," he said. "To be honest with you, I spoke to my dad on Wednesday night and he said 'how are you doing?'. I said I’m playing well but I’m hitting either way long or way short because I can’t gauge it.
“I think when the tournament started I just switched on a little bit in my head and thought about things a bit more thoroughly so it’s about managing that altitude a bit better.
“I think it's a bit of guesswork, my caddie is South African so that helps, he knows how it works a bit better than me so I’ve been relying on him a little bit more this week than usual. At least then if it’s wrong I just blame him!
“I’m confident and just happy to be in the mix, there or thereabouts, and keep hitting the long drives and the little fades in the middle of the fairway and it should be there or thereabouts going into Sunday.
"But there’s so much golf to be played and I’m just happy to be in the right frame of mind and playing nicely, so we’ll try and keep it going.”
Japan's Masahiro Kawamura was also at nine under and he credited his short game as he carded a bogey-free 66.
“I’m happy, this was a good round and a very nice finish," he said. "I missed some iron shots but my chipping and putting were very good today.
“A bogey-free round is great for me. It’s just Friday and I need to just keep going and hopefully I can keep playing this way at the weekend.”
