Matt Wallace had a respectable season on the PGA Tour, making the weekend 13 times in 20 appearances. He finished with more than $1 million in earnings and four top-25 finishes, including a T-4 at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson outside of Dallas.
But he has continued to compete hard on the DP World Tour this autumn, finishing eighth at the Betfred British Masters presented by Sir Nick Faldo last week and taking the lead at this week's Omega European Masters in Crans-sur-Sicières, Switzerland.
Wallace opened with a 64 but then played even better, making five straight birdies in the second round to finish with a 62. He finished four shots ahead of Alex Fitzpatrick at 14 under.
But what was Wallace's real motivation during this time? To impress Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald.
“It’s not just about winning, it’s about playing well,” he said.
“Luke wants you to play well, and I want to play well, so I’m going to try to play well every day, and this is what’s going to happen.”
Our solo leader performed the best. @mattsjwallace 🎥#OEM2024 pic.twitter.com/GpoyhONZZL
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) September 6, 2024
Donald will once again select six wild cards for Europe's Ryder Cup team, with all six of next year's defending champions chosen from a ranked list.
Qualifying points will be earned through a new tournament tier structure that focuses on performance in the majors and the largest PGA Tour and DP World Tour events, but LIV golf tournaments still won’t award points.
As for how he would maintain his lead, Wallace insisted he just wanted to keep the pressure on.
“Competition is good, but I want to stay away from it as much as possible.”
Henrik Noland and Jordan Smith were five shots back in third.
