The Scotsman, who is chasing a maiden European Challenge Tour title, started the day in a share of seventh, four strokes behind halfway leader Julian Brun.
He raced up the leaderboard as he made the turn five under par after four birdies and an eagle and made three further gains on the back nine to sign for a nine under par total, one stroke clear of Brun ahead of the final round.
Ferguson has impressed on the 2021 Road to Mallorca with two runner-up results and three further top five finishes, including a T5 showing last week’s Made in Esbjerg Challenge.
“Even just having lunch and looking around the clubhouse, there’s so many good players all around you,” he said. “To be leading them after three rounds and leading the golf tournament and leading a Challenge Tour event I think that says a lot about me as a golfer and as a person, just dealing with all the things that come with golf. So I’m quite happy that I’m in this position and hopefully I can just keep giving myself these opportunities.”
The 25-year-old, who won the Boys Amateur Championship in 2013, hopes his consistency will pay off in the long run as he searches for a maiden victory as a professional.
“It’s a really difficult game and you can’t hit the same shot twice,” he added. “If I can try and literally just keep my head and stay focused and do my best and if it happens it happens (winning an event) and if not, I know I’ll get myself up there again and I’ll get myself a lot more opportunities in the future and tomorrow is just another one of them.
“I like this course, I like how you need to be able to shape it. You need to be able to hit it low and high and have a lot of variation and when I’m playing well I’m quite good at that, it doesn’t always work out but I think that could be my strength when I play good so that’s probably why I’m doing okay.”
Spain’s Angel Hidalgo and Espen Kofstad of Norway share third place on seven under par, two strokes ahead of Spaniard Ivan Cantero Gutierrez and Ugo Coussaud of France.
The final round of the Sydbank Esjberg Challenge will begin at 7:30am local time tomorrow, with Ferguson teeing it up at 9:20am alongside Brun and Kofstad.
Scores after round three:
204 E FERGUSON (SCO) 68 71 65,
205 J BRUN (FRA) 67 68 70,
206 E KOFSTAD (NOR) 68 70 68, A HIDALGO (ESP) 67 70 69,
208 U COUSSAUD (FRA) 69 72 67, I CANTERO GUTIERREZ (ESP) 69 70 69,
209 K JOHANNESSEN (NOR) 69 72 68, J DANTORP (SWE) 71 70 68, S FERNANDEZ (ESP) 69 69 71,
210 B WINDRED (AUS) 69 74 67, N JOHANSSON (SWE) 73 70 67, M ROTTLUFF (GER) 68 70 72, Y PAUL (GER) 75 70 65, O FARRELL (ENG) 69 69 72,
211 J GIRRBACH (SUI) 72 72 67, R GOUVEIA (POR) 70 72 69, P L?NGFORS (SWE) 77 68 66, L RUUSKA (FIN) 68 74 69, M GRADECKI (POL) 70 71 70, H R?NNEBLAD (SWE) 69 71 71, L JENSEN (DEN) 69 70 72,
212 S FRIEDRICHSEN (AM) (DEN) 73 70 69, M ROHWER (RSA) 71 72 69, O GILLBERG (SWE) 73 70 69, H LONG (GER) 73 69 70, A WILSON (ENG) 75 70 67, M HOEY (NIR) 75 70 67,
213 P EDBERG (SWE) 72 72 69, H DU PLESSIS (RSA) 72 72 69, M HELLIGKILDE (DEN) 71 73 69, M LUNDBERG (SWE) 71 72 70, S SAAVEDRA (ARG) 74 70 69, C BLOMSTRAND (SWE) 71 74 68, V MEYER (GER) 71 71 71, H ELLIS (ENG) 68 73 72,
214 J FAHRBRING (SWE) 71 73 70, J MURPHY (IRL) 71 72 71, A GARCIA-HEREDIA (ESP) 71 73 70, P KUEST (USA) 73 71 70, J K?LBING (GER) 70 72 72, N REGNER (AUT) 72 73 69, J GARCIA (ESP) 72 73 69, H GODDARD (ENG) 71 74 69, M MANASSERO (ITA) 66 73 75,
215 N KRISTENSEN (DEN) 71 72 72, L NEMECZ (AUT) 72 72 71, J SALE (AM) (FRA) 68 76 71, I SAULO (FIN) 68 75 72, C BERARDO (FRA) 73 71 71, O HUNDEB?LL (DEN) 74 71 70, M WIEGELE (AUT) 74 71 70, A HOST (DEN) 74 71 70, M MADSEN (DEN) 72 73 70,
216 D KEMMER (USA) 73 70 73, D BOOTE (WAL) 72 72 72, C ROSS (SCO) 69 76 71,
217 S MANLEY (WAL) 72 72 73, B NEIL (SCO) 73 69 75,
218 G KRISTJANSSON (ISL) 74 69 75, N M?LLER (DEN) 71 71 76, M BREMNER (RSA) 74 71 73, F PALSON (SWE) 72 73 73, J KAHLOS (FIN) 73 67 78,
219 L VACARISAS (ESP) 68 76 75, T CLEMENTS (ENG) 71 74 74,
220 A ARIZABALETA (COL) 71 74 75,
221 F MACCARIO (ITA) 72 72 77, S GREGORY (ENG) 73 72 76,
222 M ORRIN (ENG) 71 74 77,
**
146 A KNAPPE (GER) 71 75, B RUSCH (SUI) 73 73, P NYHOLM (SWE) 74 72, S WIIS (DEN) 74 72, J WIKSTROM (SWE) 72 74, G BOURDY (FRA) 72 74, N KIMSEY (ENG) 74 72, R DE SOUSA (SUI) 70 76, C MIVIS (BEL) 73 73, H BROWN (AM) (DEN) 72 74, B PETURSSON (ISL) 72 74,
147 T WIDING (SWE) 74 73, C HOWIE (SCO) 73 74, J FREIBURGHAUS (SUI) 71 76, R PETERSSON (SWE) 77 70, B GILL (ENG) 76 71, B SCHMIDT (ENG) 74 73, T ROSENM?LLER (GER) 74 73, D JENNEVRET (SWE) 79 68, J SUGRUE (IRL) 70 77, M EGGENBERGER (SUI) 78 69, C CANNON (ENG) 72 75, A BJORNSSON (ISL) 74 73,
148 P BAEK (DEN) 73 75, D QUINONES (USA) 78 70, P MCBRIDE (IRL) 72 76, R CONRADIE (RSA) 76 72, V RIU (FRA) 73 75, C BRING (DEN) 75 73, F LACROIX (FRA) 74 74, S DEL VAL (ESP) 76 72, T MURRAY (ENG) 74 74, J ARNOY (NOR) 76 72, E BERTHEUSSEN (NOR) 71 77, T BESSA (POR) 77 71, C O’ROURKE (IRL) 76 72, B HUTCHINSON (ENG) 75 73,
149 A PLANT (ENG) 73 76, D HUIZING (NED) 75 74, O LINDELL (FIN) 74 75, M ELVIRA (ESP) 74 75, V PASTOR (ESP) 71 78, J LANDO CASANOVA (FRA) 73 76, J AXELSEN (DEN) 77 72, D BORDA (ESP) 76 73,
150 H MAGNUS (ISL) 74 76, J FLOYDD (ENG) 79 71, M LINDBERG (SWE) 80 70, J KENNEGARD (SWE) 75 75, L SCALISE (ITA) 74 76, R KAKKO (FIN) 76 74, H ARKENAU (GER) 73 77, A AHOKAS (FIN) 74 76, T BALTL (AUT) 73 77, E ROUSAUD (ESP) 80 70, J YATES (IRL) 71 79, J LONG (ENG) 75 75, A DEL REY (ESP) 74 76, N TINNING (DEN) 72 78,
151 M GALIANO AGUILAR (ESP) 79 72, C PURCELL (IRL) 80 71, M SIMONSEN (DEN) 76 75, G BLOOR (ENG) 77 74, F DAUX (FRA) 75 76, D FOOS (GER) 72 79, C SAHLSTROM (SWE) 74 77,
152 J KO (FRA) 75 77, J SVENSSON (SWE) 77 75, K ULENAERS (BEL) 80 72, R DAWSON (IRL) 75 77, J JONES (CAN) 70 82,
153 R WILLIAMS (ENG) 78 75, A JOHN (GER) 77 76, J SORENSEN (AM) (DEN) 79 74, G BOYD (ENG) 74 79,
154 K KOIVU (FIN) 76 78, B VIRTO (ESP) 76 78,
155 E LIPPARELLI (ITA) 76 79, A AHOUA (FRA) 79 76,
156 H SHERIDAN – MILLS (ENG) 78 78, S HENRY (SCO) 76 80,
157 M ORTOLANI (ITA) 76 81, S FORSSTR?M (SWE) 78 79,
159 E DI NITTO (ITA) 79 80,
164 I FONS PELUFO (ESP) 79 85,
167 L KEUNEN (NED) 78 89,
