THE Brabazon course at The Belfry is named after Lord Brabazon of Tara, who was a keen golfer and a pioneer of the aviation industry. But you knew that didn’t you? Anyway, Ewen Ferguson’s early efforts to take flight over this stretch of storied golfing land in round one of the Betfred British Masters were so turbulent, they should’ve been accompanied by an emergency holler about adopting the brace position.
While star attraction Justin Rose set a robust standard with a seven-under 65, Ferguson found himself four-over after just four holes during a lively, topsy-turvy round that had the kind of thrills and spills you’d get with an all-day ticket for the nearby Drayton Manor theme park. The young Scot’s three-under 69 was a fine operation in salvage as he finished in a share of eighth.
Starting on the 10th, Ferguson, a double winner on the DP World Tour during his rookie campaign last season, was swiftly on the back-foot with a double-bogey on the 11th before bogeys at 12 and 13 just about left him requiring a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. A brace of birdies at 14 and 15 helped to raise the morale and Ferguson upped the ante on his back-nine as he continued his clamber back into the upper echelons.
He putted in from off the green on the par-5 third for an eagle after a raking approach from almost 250 yards before reeling off a trio of birdies at four, five and six to turn a potentially ruinous round into a sprightly start.
Amid those early trials and tribulations, Ferguson refused to be downbeat. In this game of fine margins, the fortunes can swiftly change.
“Even though I’d got off to such a bad start, I was thinking that I could hole a shot and, sure enough, I did, with that long putt from off the green for an eagle on 11,” said Ferguson of that timely bonus.
Ferguson, the former British Boys’ champion and Walker Cup player, was joined on the three-under mark by fellow Scot, Calum Hill. Fresh from a 10th place finish in the BMW International Open last weekend, Hill kept ticking along quite the thing with a neatly assembled card. Robert MacIntyre, runner-up in the British Masters at Hillside during his rookie season in 2019, opened with a 70 to sit alongside Aberdonian, David Law.
It’s just over 20 years since Rose won the British Masters title at Woburn, his second of 11 wins on the European circuit. Here in 2023, the former US Open champion is back at the sharp end again as he lived up to his pre-tournament billing as favourite by setting a brisk pace. Not that he was taking much notice of his odds with the bookies, mind you.
“I hadn’t really paid any attention to that, even though I played with the Betfred lads [in the Pro-Am] and they were telling me about the pricing of the field,” he said with a smile. “It’s obviously somewhat of a compliment but it doesn’t mean anything, does it? You have to go and play well.”
Rose certainly did that. Off from the 10th, the Englishman settled into the day with a nice birdie to get things going and he packed seven more into a purposeful round to lead by a stroke from his former Ryder Cup team-mate, Jamie Donaldson.
“I felt very comfortable with my game from the first shot,” said Rose of his good day at the office. “I hit a beautiful little wedge into the 10th hole, made a nice birdie there and I think that’s the cleanest round of golf I’ve played in a long, long time.
“I really drove the ball well, the irons were being struck pretty cleanly. It all amounted to a very good day’s work.”
Donaldson, the Welsh veteran who claimed the winning point in Europe’s 2014 Ryder Cup triumph at Gleneagles, was meandering along at one-under through 12 holes but mounted a rousing burst for the line and birdied five of his last six holes in a charging 66.
“Nothing was going in, it was all a bit slow at the start and suddenly it all kicked in on the back nine,” said the 47-year-old. Germany’s Yannick Paul, who currently holds an automatic qualifying place for the Ryder Cup, was sharing third on four-under with a posse which includes the English amateur, John Gough.
