Matt Wallace (golfer)
| Matt Wallace | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Matthew Wallace | ||
| Born | 12 April 1990 Hillingdon, London, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||
| Sporting nationality |  England | ||
| Residence | London, England | ||
| Career | |||
| College | Jacksonville State University | ||
| Turned professional | 2012 | ||
| Current tour(s) | PGA Tour European Tour | ||
| Former tour(s) | Challenge Tour Alps Tour | ||
| Professional wins | 12 | ||
| Highest ranking | 23 (14 July 2019)[1] (as of 17 November 2024) | ||
| Number of wins by tour | |||
| PGA Tour | 1 | ||
| European Tour | 5 | ||
| Asian Tour | 1 | ||
| Challenge Tour | 1 | ||
| Other | 6 | ||
| Best results in major championships | |||
| Masters Tournament | T34: 2021 | ||
| PGA Championship | T3: 2019 | ||
| U.S. Open | T12: 2019 | ||
| The Open Championship | T40: 2021 | ||
| Achievements and awards | |||
| |||
Matthew Wallace (born 12 April 1990) is an English professional golfer who plays on the European Tour and the PGA Tour.
Collegiate career
[edit]After growing up in Pinner[2] England and going to Aldenham School, Wallace attended Jacksonville State University, in Northeast Alabama, as a freshman in the 2010–11 season before turning professional. His year in Jacksonville was a successful one that saw him win twice, including the 2011 OVC Championship. He was the OVC Freshman of the Year and held the record for lowest round in school history with a 10-under 62 in the F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate.[3]
Professional career
[edit]In 2016 Wallace won six tournaments on the Alps Tour and won the Order of Merit. This enabled him to join the Challenge Tour in 2017. He started 2017 by finishing tied for third place in the Barclays Kenya Open and in May he won the Open de Portugal, a dual-ranking event with the main European Tour.[4] The win gave him promotion to the European Tour.
2018: Breakout season
[edit]Wallace won his second European Tour event in March 2018, Hero Indian Open, beating Andrew Johnston in a playoff, making a birdie at the first extra hole. The win lifted him into the world top 100 for the first time.[5] In June Wallace won again at the BMW International Open. He started the final round two strokes behind the leaders, but carded a bogey-free round of 65 to take the title by one stroke.[6] He followed that up with a victory at Made in Denmark in September 2018, collecting birdies at five of the last six holes before coming out on top in a four-man playoff.[7] He finished in a share of fifth at the Nedbank Golf Challenge before tying for second at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai to move into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time.
2019 to present
[edit]In 2019, Wallace finished tied for 3rd place at the PGA Championship and 12th at the US Open. On the PGA Tour, he finished sixth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and on the European Tour, he was runner-up at both the Dubai Desert Classic and the British Masters, and third at the BMW International Open and the KLM Open.
In his first full season on the PGA Tour in 2019–20, Wallace had best results of a tied fourth at Memorial Tournament and tied 12th at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
In April 2021, Wallace recorded his joint-best finish on the PGA Tour with a solo-third finish at the Valero Texas Open, after being tied for the lead with Jordan Spieth entering the final round.[8] He finished the 2020–21 season in 111th place on the FedEx Cup standings.
Wallace started his 2021–22 PGA Tour season with a share of 14th place at the Shriners Children's Open and fourth place at the Zozo Championship in October 2021; a further top-ten finish at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in July 2022 helped him to 120th place in the end of season FedEx Cup standings to retain his card for 2022–23. Back on the European Tour in August 2022, Wallace finished runner-up at the 2022 Omega European Masters, losing in a playoff to Thriston Lawrence.[9]
In January 2023, Wallace was selected to play in the inaugural Hero Cup, representing the Great Britain and Ireland team, facing Continental Europe, contributing 2.5 points from a possible four, including a singles victory over Thomas Detry, in his team's defeat.[10] On the PGA Tour, in March, he finished tied for seventh in the Valspar Championship; the following week he claimed his first PGA Tour win, at the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic.[11] Returning to Europe in August, Wallace finished second at the D+D Real Czech Masters and followed that up with top-10 finishes at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. He qualified for the DP World Tour Championship and shot a round of 60 on the Saturday, including nine consecutive birdies on the back nine,[12] ending the week in joint second place.
Professional wins (12)
[edit]PGA Tour wins (1)
[edit]| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 Mar 2023 | Corales Puntacana Championship | −19 (67-66-70-66=269) | 1 stroke |  Nicolai Højgaard
|
European Tour wins (5)
[edit]| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 May 2017 | Open de Portugal1 | −21 (63-66-73-69=271) | 3 strokes |  Julian Suri
|
| 2 | 11 Mar 2018 | Hero Indian Open2 | −11 (69-70-70-68=277) | Playoff | Andrew Johnston
|
| 3 | 24 Jun 2018 | BMW International Open | −10 (73-69-71-65=278) | 1 stroke |  Martin Kaymer,  Mikko Korhonen, Thorbjørn Olesen
|
| 4 | 2 Sep 2018 | Made in Denmark | −19 (68-68-66-67=269) | Playoff | Steven Brown, Jonathan Thomson, Lee Westwood
|
| 5 | 8 Sep 2024 | Omega European Masters | −11 (64-62-73-70=269) | Playoff |  Alfredo García-Heredia
|
1Dual-ranking event with the Challenge Tour
2Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
European Tour playoff record (3–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2018 | Hero Indian Open | Andrew Johnston
|
Won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 2 | 2018 | Made in Denmark | Steven Brown, Jonathan Thomson, Lee Westwood
|
Won with birdie on second extra hole Thomson and Westwood eliminated by birdie on first hole |
| 3 | 2022 | Omega European Masters |  Thriston Lawrence
|
Lost to par on first extra hole |
| 4 | 2024 | Omega European Masters | Alfredo García-Heredia
|
Won with birdie on first extra hole |
Challenge Tour wins (1)
[edit]| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 May 2017 | Open de Portugal1 | −21 (63-66-73-69=271) | 3 strokes | Julian Suri
|
1Dual-ranking event with the European Tour
Alps Tour wins (6)
[edit]| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 23 Feb 2016 | Dreamland Pyramids Open | −8 (67-72-69=208) | 1 stroke |  David Carey,  Antoine Schwartz
|
| 2 | 1 May 2016 | Tunisian Golf Open | −12 (67-68-71-70=276) | 2 strokes |  Enrico Di Nitto
|
| 3 | 8 May 2016 | Gösser Open | −20 (66-64-66=196) | 8 strokes |  Robin Goger
|
| 4 | 21 May 2016 | Vigevano Open | −17 (65-62-66=193) | 3 strokes |  Julien Clement, Franck Daux
|
| 5 | 2 Jul 2016 | Open Frassanelle | −17 (66-65-65=196) | 4 strokes | Victor Perez
|
| 6 | 22 Oct 2016 | Alps Tour Grand Final | −17 (63-70-66-68=267) | 1 stroke | Richard Jouven
|
Results in major championships
[edit]Results not in chronological order in 2020.
| Tournament | 2017 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | ||
| U.S. Open | CUT | CUT |
| The Open Championship | CUT | |
| PGA Championship | T19 |
| Tournament | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | CUT | T46 | T34 | |||
| PGA Championship | T3 | T77 | T55 | T65 | T43 | |
| U.S. Open | T12 | T43 | CUT | |||
| The Open Championship | T51 | NT | T40 | CUT | T41 |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
[edit]| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 6 |
| U.S. Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| The Open Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 |
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 19 | 13 |
- Most consecutive cuts made – 8 (2019 PGA – 2021 PGA)
- Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (once)
Results in The Players Championship
[edit]| Tournament | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Players Championship | T30 | C | CUT | CUT | CUT |
"T" indicates a tie for a place
CUT = missed the halfway cut
C = Cancelled after the first round due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Results in World Golf Championships
[edit]| Tournament | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Championship | T33 | T58 | ||
| Match Play | T40 | NT1 | T28 | |
| Invitational | T27 | T59 | ||
| Champions | T50 | T60 | NT1 | NT1 |
1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
NT = no tournament
"T" = tied
Team appearances
[edit]Professional
- Hero Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2023
References
[edit]- ^ "Week 28 2019 Ending 14 Jul 2019" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
- ^ "A good start for Wallace despite disappointing end". Watford Observer. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ "Pair of Former Gamecocks Set For The Masters". Jacksonville State University Athletics. 10 April 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
- ^ "Matt Wallace: World number 242 wins Portugal Open for first European Tour title". BBC Sport. 14 May 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
- ^ "Matt Wallace triumphs in play-off to win Hero Indian Open". Today's Golfer. 12 March 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ Casey, Kevin (24 June 2018). "Matt Wallace closes in 65 to win BMW International Open". Golfweek. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ Tait, Alistair (2 September 2018). "Matt Wallace makes Euro Ryder Cup case with Made in Denmark win". Golfweek. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ "Jordan Spieth ends four-year PGA Tour drought at Valero Texas Open". The Independent. 5 April 2021. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
- ^ "DP World Tour: Thriston Lawrence beats Matt Wallace in play-off to win Omega European Masters". Sky Sports. 28 August 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ Grimshaw, Harry (28 November 2022). "Teams announced for Hero Cup in Abu Dhabi". Gulf News. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ "England's Matt Wallace claims first PGA Tour win after birdie run at Corales Puntacana Championship". Sky Sports. 27 March 2023. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
- ^ "Wallace leads in Dubai after nine straight birdies". BBC Sport. 18 November 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
External links
[edit]- Matt Wallace at the European Tour official site
- Matt Wallace at the PGA Tour official site
- Matt Wallace at the Official World Golf Ranking official site