Scots Ewen Ferguson won his second DP World Tour event in his debut season and best mate Connor Syme finished runner-up for the second week in a row at the ISPS ISPS Handa World Invitational presented by AVIV Clinics in Ireland.
The two Scots played together in the final round at Galgorm as Ferguson went wire-to-wire to follow up his Qatar Masters title back in April. He’s the first Scot to win twice in a season since Paul Lawrie in 2012.
Ferguson shot a final round 69 to finish with a 12-under aggregate of 268.
Syme finished with three birdies in his last four holes to finish three behind his friend. He was also second in last week’s Cazoo Classic in Wales.
Ferguson moves to 17th on the Race to Dubai with Syme now 21st – both within range of the ten PGA Tour cards now available to non-exempt players,. And although there’s a series of big-paying events coming up, both seem set fair for the season-ending DP World Championship in Dubai.
Ewen and Connor have been close friends since junior days, and it couldn’t have worked out any better, said Ferguson.
‘I felt he was my main rival’
Ewen Ferguson wins the ISPS Handa World Invitational presented by AVIV Clinics! 🏆 #WorldInvitational pic.twitter.com/nFUnfg7nuW
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) August 14, 2022
“It feels unbelievable, I just can’t believe how calm I was out there today,” he said.
“I played with Connor the first two days and he was playing so, so good, I felt he was my main rival for the day.
“Managing to play with him again, holding each other off and keep up with each other at the same time was so good.
“He’s doing that walk down the step (towards winning) I was doing earlier in the year.”
Getting to the season-ending finale in Dubai was one of his remaining goals, and that’s booked for both of them.
“I love Dubai so I really want to get there, and it’s so good that I’m going to be there now. I was going to play six weeks in a row coming up, and Connor thought I was crazy, so I might take a week off somewhere now!
“It’s been a good year, and obviously you get times where it doesn’t go so well. I think you really need to appreciate things where you’re picking up trophies or you’re doing all right because it’s a really tough game.”
Dundee-based Syme, whose father Stuart runs the Drumoig Golf Centre, pushed up into a share of second place with Spain’s Borja Virto by virtue of birdies at 15,16 and 18.
Two more rookie Scottish pros, Craig Howie and Calum Fyfe, finished in a tie for 13th on five-under.
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