Scottish golfer hails 'unbelievable' extension of DP World Tour title sponsorship

In what is the tour’s largest-ever partnership agreement, DP World, the multi-national logistics company based in Dubai, has extended a deal to be the circuit’s title sponsor until 2035.

Guy Kinnings, the European Tour Group’s chief executive officer, described the announcement as “further proof that the DP World Tour is going from strength to strength” while DP World group deputy CEO Yuvraj Narayan hailed the partnership extension as demonstrating the company’s “belief in the tour’s future”.

The announcement was made on the same day Rory McIlroy spoke about how the DP World Tour “needs all of its stars to step up” due to the current “fractured state of the men’s professional game”.

Speaking about the announcement at Jumeirah Golf Estates on Wednesday, Dubai-based Ferguson told The Scotsman: “It really is unbelievable. And it is quite assuring and calming for someone my age playing who is hoping to be out here for the next ten years to have the backing of DP World.”

Ferguson, who is flying the Saltire in the circuit’s $10 million season finale along with Bob MacIntyre, Calum Hill, Grant Forrest and Connor Syme, faced the prospect of missing out before signing off with a gutsy 66 in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Sunday to stay inside the top 50 in the Race to Dubai Rankings.

“Thinking I might miss out on it was torture,” admitted the three-time tour winner. “Especially living here now and watching them set the whole place up for this week, it would have been terrible to miss out. But I’ve made it here again for the fourth year in a row and am delighted about that.”

Ferguson is the odd man out among the Scots in the field, with MacIntyre, Hill, Forrest and Syme having all made it here as DP World Tour winners this season. By his own admission, Ferguson has failed to fire on all cylinders and suffered a sore one when he missed out on winning the Soudal Open in Belgium.

“You just don’t want to miss out on this one, so it’s good to be here,” he said. “But I am still working on a lot of things in my game to try and get myself in a better place golf-wise in general. I’m looking at the big picture in terms of trying to get better.”

As is the case a lot of the time, Ferguson has his brother Lewis cheering him on this week while his mum and dad, Mark and Dorothy, have also made the trip out to the Middle East.

‘Everyone is in a good mood’

“It is cool to be playing in what is now my home with my family watching,” he admitted. “The tournament also has a nice atmosphere. Everyone is chilled. Everyone is getting paid. Everyone is in a good mood.

“I’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain almost. I enjoyed being in contention here a couple of years ago, when I played with Nicolai [Hojgaard, the winner on that occasion] on the last day. I feel like I know the course really well, which is nice.”