Tour champion Ewen Ferguson relishing Scottish Open test

“My Dad thinks he’s the king of Bearsden now,” chuckled the new BMW International Open champion Ewen Ferguson as he conjured up images of faither perched in regal splendour with a sovereign orb in one hand and a pint of Tennent’s in the other.

“I think he’s been in the clubhouse getting the beers in and saying to everyone, ‘right, let’s watch it again’.”

Ferguson’s victory in Munich at the weekend, the third DP World Tour title of his career, was worthy of another watch. In fact, it’s probably been viewed so many times, the footage now resembles some worn newsreel from the British Pathe archives.

Ahead of this week’s Genesis Scottish Open at the Renaissance, Ferguson is in fine fettle. It’s not always been the case during a topsy-turvy campaign, however.

The onset of vertigo was a considerable cause for concern and led to him retiring from June’s European Open in Hamburg. His return to Germany last week provided a silver lining to the clouds of those health worries. It’s been quite a battle, though.

“In Japan earlier this year, I didn't feel great,” said the Dubai-based 28-year-old as he expanded on the impact the illness had on him.

“But sometimes you just don’t feel great and you just think ‘oh, I’m not well today’. But I stayed in Japan just to spend time cutting about cities and there was a lot of walking. A couple of times, I was like ‘something really weird is going on’.

“I thought maybe it’s the food, maybe it’s the travelling, but something is really going on. I texted my dad and he said ‘you’re fine, you’ve had a lot of stress’. But I was like ‘no, I think it’s deeper than that’.

"I just kept seeing doctors and stuff. I went back to Dubai and was just wiped. My full-face complexion was just all white. My heartrate was really strange, my eyesight was so blurry and everything was just spinning around.

"When I was standing up, I felt like I was going to stumble. When it first happened, I was in bed for about ten days.”

After a three-week break in the tour’s schedule, Ferguson returned to the competitive cut-and-thrust in that aforementioned European Open, but his vertigo was too much to bear.

“I literally couldn’t hole a two-foot putt because my eyesight had just gone,” he added. “I remember travelling back to the airport that night and thinking that I’m going to end up back on the Challenge Tour. That’s what’s tough about golf. If you can’t play, you start thinking you can’t keep your card.

“If you’re a footballer and not playing, you’ll still get paid. You’ve got a contract. It’s not like that in golf. You need to play to earn money. But, thankfully, we managed to find some solutions and medication that worked.

"It makes you really tired though, so I need to be careful in terms of when I take it. But it has lowered the symptoms so much. And now that I have had my MRIs and know it’s nothing really serious, it does calm me down.”

In a stellar Scottish Open field that boasts eight of the world’s top-10, Ferguson is relishing a return to action on home soil. The former Walker Cup player finished in a share of 12th last year, behind his compatriots Grant Forrest, who was 11th, and the gallant runner-up, Robert MacIntyre.

With a decent crop of Scots competing this week, and a friendly rivalry spurring them all on, Ferguson is hoping this band of golfing brothers can make a robust assault on the leaderboard.

“I’m pretty sure Connor (Syme) finished fourth last weekend because he was trying to chase me down at the weekend,” said Ferguson of this competitive camaraderie.

“And when I saw his name on the board I thought, ‘I need to stay ahead of him’.

“Bob (MacIntyre) texted me as soon as I won saying, ‘amazing win’ and I messaged him back saying, ‘thanks for inspiring me and the rest.’

“He said, ‘nah, we all push each other on.’ And we do. There are so many of us now and we’re all close. Connor and I are probably the closest. I’m the best man at his wedding in a couple of weeks.

“His turn will come. But I’m glad it’s my time just now.”