Ewen Ferguson started the day with a three-shot lead at the Soudal Open and fired four birdies and two bogeys to close with a 2-under 69. He was briefly caught by John Parry around the turn but recovered and takes a two-shot advantage into the final day.

“To be honest with you my range session was awful, it was so cold, my hands were freezing and I was hardly finding the middle of the face,” said the Scot.

“I was thinking it was going to be a long day – which it was – but I think when you get out there and feel the kind of vibe off the people around you, and I was playing with Marco [Penge] who’s a good friend, and just trying to enjoy it even though the weather was bad. I just hung in there really. It wasn’t pretty, I was teeing my ball down, squishing drivers trying to find the fairway. Nothing pretty to watch but Saturday, just keep yourself in there.

“Every day I’ve been working hard on recognising the parts of the round that are going to be sticky, because sometimes I’m a bit guilty of going out there and just thinking it’s going to be easy all day.

“There’s always little parts of the round… I grinded away so well. I made some nice putts to make it feel like I was scoring better. I love grinding making a par, it’s a nice feeling. I’ve done so well today just keeping my head on a day where you could really let it go.”

England’s Parry shot a bogey-free 67 and lies in second place at 11-under.

“It was tough,” said Parry. “There were a lot more four irons into the greens today – which wasn’t really the case over the first two days – but I felt like I did the hard part well, which was getting from tee to green. That made the rest of the day a bit easier.”

The Netherlands’ Darius van Driel made six birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey at the par-4 9th and lies in solo third place at 9-under.

England’s Jordan Smith carded a flawless 64 for a share of fourth place at 8-under alongside Finland’s Oliver Lindell (65) and France’s Frederic Lacroix (bogey-free, 65).

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