One of Britain’s leading golfers who developed his game at two courses in Rickmansworth is back in America and aiming to let his clubs continue to do the talking.
Having learned how to play at Batchworth Park, Matt Wallace started making headlines as an up-and-coming professional at Moor Park with a record-breaking run of victories on the Alps Tour before breaking through on the European Tour.
The Hillingdon-born player, who celebrates his 33rd birthday today, won four tournaments in his first 16 months on what is now the DP World Tour, culminating at Made in Denmark in 2018. That was four-and-a-half years ago and Wallace had not tasted victory since, until he triumphed at the Corales Puntacana Championship last month to claim his first success on the PGA Tour.
“It’s been quite strange because I just see it as another win, but then you think about it and go ‘wow, I’ve got my PGA Tour card until the end of 2025’,” Wallace reflected.
“The DP Tour and Europe has always been my home but I think it’s so important to play on the PGA Tour at the moment with the strength of the fields, the prize money, FedEx Cup points, world rankings, all of those things that come into it. And then from a personal point of view, to just remind myself I can play proper, proper golf and do it against strong fields.
“Don’t get me wrong, it was obviously an event that was against another event that I’d love to be in, in the WGC (the World Golf Championship-Dell Technologies Match Play was held at the same time), but I know where I can be, I know where I want to be and this was a step in the right direction.”
Wallace spoke to the Watford Observer during a visit to sponsors West One Loans, in Clarendon Road, last week before returning across the Atlantic to compete in this week’s RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links.
He is friends with Danny Waters, the chief executive of West One’s parent company Enra Specialist Finance, who “jumped” at the chance to become a sponsor this year, explaining: “To work with someone of Matt’s calibre and profile in a sport that I’m very passionate about was a massive opportunity.
“It took about 15 minutes to work out which for a corporate organisation is pretty quick.”
“It’s funny how things have worked out,” Wallace said. “As fast as Danny jumped on board was like as fast we’ve got success. At the end of last year I wasn’t playing good at all. We played Wentworth last year in the Pro-Am and Danny saw something different about me, even though I wasn’t in the place I wanted to be, and I think that may have influenced the decision.”
Danny added: “To have that personal connection and know the integrity, determination, hard work – these are all values we value greatly in our organisation – that Matt has, coupled with the tenacity and desire to win, it just felt like a good fit at this moment in time. And we were lucky. We’re four weeks into this partnership or something like that and we’ve had success.”
Both men will be hoping more success can be achieved at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where Wallace goes into the event boosted not only by his recent victory, but also with a new-found confidence in his ability after struggling both physically and mentally with his game.
Asked if he broken through a psychological barrier by winning for the first time since 2018, Wallace replied: “When I came off the Alps Tour winning a bunch of times and quickly came onto the European Tour, I was arrogant in a sense of I can win. And then you don’t win and you lose that arrogance of winning and I’ve gained confidence in my ability rather than arrogance.
“This one feels different because I played like a champion whereas before I probably thought more like a champion than actually played. I was able to get across the line then whereas now my golf is doing the talking rather than myself.”
Wallace believes the turning point came at The Players Championship in March after the frustration of missing out on a place at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
He explained: “I had a week off at Medalist [Golf Club in Florida] and I had one of the best golfing weeks of my life, played 72 holes and I didn’t shoot anything less than five or six under in tough conditions and I took a lot of confidence going into The Players.
“My coaches were there and they all saw something different that week in how I was playing and then I go on to miss the cut (at The Players). It was a setback in how I was feeling but I realised that mentally I wasn’t anywhere near where I needed to be compared to where my level of golf was, so now I understand the importance of the mental side compared to the ability.
“If you’ve got the ability and you haven’t got the mental you’re not going to do anything. The mental side is so much more important than hitting it from A to B, so that was a big switch going to Valspar in Tampa.
“I managed a top-ten there from slowly working to where I wanted to be with the mental side and then an opportunistic time which has happened in my career quite a bit where I’m playing well, figure a few things out, go and win (at Corales Puntacana), and then backed it up with another solid week in Texas which I was really pleased about because I started with a triple bogey and then came back with four under, no bogeys, which is another different side to my mental side.
“I know I came 28th and it’s not where I want to be playing, but I could make a triple bogey in a major and if you shoot one-under from there that’s huge for the week. If you’re shooting under pars in majors then you’re going to be up there so that’s the important side I took from last week.”
After competing at RBC Heritage, Wallace will team up with his friend Callum Shinkwin to take part in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. The Mexico Open and Wells Fargo Championship are also on the horizon before Wallace heads to Oak Hill Country Club in New York to compete at the PGA Championship in the middle of May.
Wallace secured his place at the major after winning in the Dominican Republic, a result that has helped put him 46th in the FedEx Cup standings following The Masters. A place in the top 50 is critical in order to guarantee qualification for ‘designated events’ in 2024 – tournaments which carry more FedEx points – but Wallace is not impressed that changes to how these will operate were announced last month, moving the goalposts long after the season has started.
He said. “It’s really important to be in the top 50 in the FedEx Cup and we’re in a great spot to do that now. All of these changes that have occurred mid-season on the PGA Tour have been difficult for me to comprehend. I think it’s slightly unfair to the players on the PGA Tour. These decisions should be made at the start of the season so people can plan.
“I obviously played on the European Tour at the start of the season which is in alliance with the PGA Tour and it feels very difficult for me in the position I’m now - which is a much stronger position than I was a few weeks ago - where I feel like I’ve been slightly misled in the sense of playing at the start of season on Europe and trying to build up my points to keep my card.
“I want to play both tours and be that guy who for the last four years has had his tour card on both sides, but with these changes mid-season it’s difficult to comprehend, but I have try and finish in the top 50 on the FedEx Cup.”
Wallace is hoping not only to remain in the top 50, but push for a top-30 place which would allow him to compete in the season-ending Tour Championship for the first time. If results at forthcoming PGA Tour events go well, it may mean he doesn’t have to complete the full season and can return to playing on the European tour.
“I’m a golfer who has played all year round,” he said. “I’ve never taken time off really which I would like to, I’d like to have a holiday and have some time to myself, but I love the DP World Tour. They were the people that started my career up so giving back to them sometimes is something that sits quite deep within me and I enjoy doing that.”
The PGA Tour introduced the ‘designated events’ in response to the threat posed by LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed breakaway tour launched in 2021 that has lured some of the biggest names in the sport by paying them huge sums to join.
Wallace confirmed he had been approached to join LIV in the past and has friends and golfing “heroes of mine” on the tour. He said: “I understand some of their decisions but then I don’t understand because at the end of it, it’s just about money and money is probably the third thing that I ever look at behind world ranking and FedEx Cup points or order of merit points which ultimately take care of money in the first place.
“I try and put it in terms of normal life and jobs. I don’t get sometimes where the older statesmen have come back and say ‘we deserve this’ and ‘we deserve that’. Nobody deserves anything, especially in the game of golf.
“Yes, you’ve given your life, your career to a certain entity of the European Tour, PGA Tour, but there’s no level of where people owe you anything and for me you know the consequences of the decision you make.
“We’ve all signed on the European Tour, PGA Tour knowing that we’re signing to a company. You’ve signed up to the rules and you have to stick by them.”
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