Ferrie fighting for trophy place
England’s Kenneth Ferrie was today battling to keep his chances of qualifying for the Seve Trophy alive in the Linde German Masters.
Compatriot Nick Dougherty currently occupies the final automatic berth for Colin Montgomerie’s Britain and Ireland team, which will be decided on Sunday evening.
Ferrie, winner of the European Open earlier this season, is only £5,000 behind Dougherty on the Order of Merit but trailed the former Walker Cup star by five shots going into today’s third round in Cologne.
A front nine of 33 took Ferrie to seven under par for the tournament and reduced his deficit to just two shots this morning, the 26-year-old carding birdies at the first, second and seventh.
The fourth edition of the Seve Trophy is being held at The Wynyard in County Durham from September 22-25, giving the Ashington-born Ferrie an added incentive to make the 10-man team.
“I only live about half an hour away so obviously it means a lot more to me than most,” he said.
“A lot of the big guys aren’t going to play and that gives me my chance so I can’t really knock them for it. But for me I know there are a lot of people who will come to watch if I do get in so it’ll definitely add to the crowd if I get to play.”
Dougherty was yet to start his third round, teeing off shortly before 12.30pm local time alongside tournament promoter, and four-time winner, Bernhard Langer.
Londoner Anthony Wall and Spain’s Jose Maria Olazabal share the lead on 11 under par, Olazabal warming up nicely for next week’s World Match Play at Wentworth and captaining the European team in the Seve Trophy.
Ferrie also birdied the 11th and a run of three pars left him eight under par with four holes to play.
Dougherty remained one shot ahead after opening with two pars, one of 15 players on nine under on the congested leaderboard.
England’s David Lynn, joint fourth overnight, had birdied the first to move to 10 under.
