Matt Wallace (golfer)

Matt Wallace
Personal information
Full nameMatthew Wallace
Born (1990-04-12) 12 April 1990 (age 34)
Hillingdon, London, England
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Sporting nationality England
ResidenceLondon, England
Career
CollegeJacksonville State University
Turned professional2012
Current tour(s)PGA Tour
European Tour
Former tour(s)Challenge Tour
Alps Tour
Professional wins12
Highest ranking23 (14 July 2019)[1]
(as of 17 November 2024)
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour1
European Tour5
Asian Tour1
Challenge Tour1
Other6
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT34: 2021
PGA ChampionshipT3: 2019
U.S. OpenT12: 2019
The Open ChampionshipT40: 2021
Achievements and awards
Alps Tour
Order of Merit winner
2016

Matthew Wallace (born 12 April 1990) is an English professional golfer who plays on the European Tour and the PGA Tour.

Collegiate career

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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

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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

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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

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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)

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PGA Tour wins (1)

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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 Denmark Nicolai Højgaard

European Tour wins (5)

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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 United States Julian Suri
2 11 Mar 2018 Hero Indian Open2 −11 (69-70-70-68=277) Playoff England Andrew Johnston
3 24 Jun 2018 BMW International Open −10 (73-69-71-65=278) 1 stroke Germany Martin Kaymer, Finland Mikko Korhonen,
Denmark Thorbjørn Olesen
4 2 Sep 2018 Made in Denmark −19 (68-68-66-67=269) Playoff England Steven Brown, England Jonathan Thomson,
England Lee Westwood
5 8 Sep 2024 Omega European Masters −11 (64-62-73-70=269) Playoff Spain 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 England Andrew Johnston Won with birdie on first extra hole
2 2018 Made in Denmark England Steven Brown, England Jonathan Thomson,
England Lee Westwood
Won with birdie on second extra hole
Thomson and Westwood eliminated by birdie on first hole
3 2022 Omega European Masters South Africa Thriston Lawrence Lost to par on first extra hole
4 2024 Omega European Masters Spain Alfredo García-Heredia Won with birdie on first extra hole

Challenge Tour wins (1)

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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 United States Julian Suri

1Dual-ranking event with the European Tour

Alps Tour wins (6)

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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 Republic of Ireland David Carey, France Antoine Schwartz
2 1 May 2016 Tunisian Golf Open −12 (67-68-71-70=276) 2 strokes Italy Enrico Di Nitto
3 8 May 2016 Gösser Open −20 (66-64-66=196) 8 strokes Austria Robin Goger
4 21 May 2016 Vigevano Open −17 (65-62-66=193) 3 strokes Switzerland Julien Clement, France Franck Daux
5 2 Jul 2016 Open Frassanelle −17 (66-65-65=196) 4 strokes France Victor Perez
6 22 Oct 2016 Alps Tour Grand Final −17 (63-70-66-68=267) 1 stroke France Richard Jouven

Results in major championships

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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
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

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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

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Tournament 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
The Players Championship T30 C CUT CUT CUT
  Did not play

"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

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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

  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
NT = no tournament
"T" = tied

Team appearances

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Professional

  • Hero Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2023

References

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  1. ^ "Week 28 2019 Ending 14 Jul 2019" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  2. ^ "A good start for Wallace despite disappointing end". Watford Observer. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  3. ^ "Pair of Former Gamecocks Set For The Masters". Jacksonville State University Athletics. 10 April 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  4. ^ "Matt Wallace: World number 242 wins Portugal Open for first European Tour title". BBC Sport. 14 May 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  5. ^ "Matt Wallace triumphs in play-off to win Hero Indian Open". Today's Golfer. 12 March 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  6. ^ Casey, Kevin (24 June 2018). "Matt Wallace closes in 65 to win BMW International Open". Golfweek. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  7. ^ Tait, Alistair (2 September 2018). "Matt Wallace makes Euro Ryder Cup case with Made in Denmark win". Golfweek. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  8. ^ "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.
  9. ^ "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.
  10. ^ Grimshaw, Harry (28 November 2022). "Teams announced for Hero Cup in Abu Dhabi". Gulf News. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  11. ^ "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.
  12. ^ "Wallace leads in Dubai after nine straight birdies". BBC Sport. 18 November 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
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