Wallace Makes it a Hat-Trick in Denmark
Tournament: Made in Denmark Race to Dubai: Tournament 37 of 47 events Venue: Silkeborg Ry Golf Club, Silkeborg, Denmark Prize fund: €1,500,000 Hashtag: #MiD18
Matt Wallace prevailed from a four-man play-off to win his third European Tour title of the season at the Made in Denmark as local hero Thorbjørn Olesen sealed his place on the Ryder Cup Team.
Wallace birdied five of his last six holes in a 67 to get to 19 under alongside fellow Englishmen Steven Brown, Jonathan Thomson and Lee Westwood before birdies on both extra holes handed him a fourth European Tour win at Silkeborg Ry Golf Club.
Brown and Wallace both put their approaches inside six feet on the first play-off hole for a pair of birdies before Wallace went even closer on the next with Brown only able to make a par.
Wallace moves to 17th in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex and will break into the top 60 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career.
In the battle for a place in Thomas Bjørn's Team to take on the United States later this month, Matthew Fitzpatrick carded an excellent closing 66 to get to 16 under and a tie for seventh but that was not enough to dislodge Olesen from the final qualifying spot.
The Dane carded a 68 to finish at 11 under and will now make his Ryder Cup debut in Paris alongside Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Rory McIlroy, Francesco Molinari, Alex Noren, Jon Rahm and Justin Rose.
Player quotes
Matt Wallace: “I’m so happy, ecstatic. Hard work again, pays off. Determination, grit, everything that I believe takes to win a tournament and I said it yesterday: You need to putt well to win, and I've found a way to get it done where I put myself under pressure in practise, and then it comes up trumps on a Sunday. Ball-striking can take you there, and then putting takes over.
“I think I have given Thomas (Bjørn) something to think about. That was the plan. I put myself under pressure, the last couple of days, as well, by saying I want to give him a headache. I've stepped up to the mark and I've shown him exactly what I'm about. If he doesn't pick me, then that's absolutely fine. That's absolutely fine. But I've shown him everything that I'm about, and if he doesn't, then so be it, but if he does, he knows he's going to get exactly that in his team.”
Lee Westwood: “It's been a great week. I've enjoyed it thoroughly. It was all good. Played lovely. Hit a lot of good shots and a bit unlucky in the playoff. The lads hit two good shots and made birdies. I hit a great putt. Thought I made it. It just dived right at the end.”
Jonathan Thomson: “I played some great golf, especially coming down the stretch where the pressure's on and I knew what I've got to do. You know what, for me, from where I have been from the start of the year to now, it's just phenomenal. So I'm just so happy with the week and how I've played.”
Steven Brown: “I would have definitely taken it kind of beginning of the week, getting in a playoff like that. Can't be too disappointed. Felt like I hung in there quite well because I kind of made a couple of mistakes, 3 and 4, first few holes. To come back after that and give it a go at the end was pleasing but fair play to Matt. He won it. I couldn't have done much more. Really happy for him.”
Thomas Bjørn: “It’s a great position to be in. A lot of guys playing well. Yeah, we're in a situation where we're going to make somebody really happy and we're going to let somebody down, and that's fortunate and unfortunate in the same breath, and that's the way it is. As a captain, you sometimes probably hope when you have four picks, there's going to be four and that's not the case this time. There's a bit of thinking and a bit of stuff to do. We'll choose four and we'll make it what it is and what me and the vice captains and the team around the team think is the right thing to go with. Unfortunately this time around, there's only 12 players. You'd like it to be 15 or 16 I think, but that's the way it is. So yeah, somebody is going to find it a bit tough.
“You always have somebody that's on the bubble at the end and fighting hard and to be honest when they are sitting there right inside the team, you can feel they deserve it, and you can see there's joy and sadness and fear and all these emotions in their eyes as they go through the last few weeks. That's tough for any player and it's tough to watch somebody that you care about a lot in the way that Thorbjørn and I are great friends. To watch him go through that has been not the easiest thing, but every player needs to go through that. Everybody needs to make that team. It teaches you a lot about yourself and I feel he's ready to be part of a European Team now. He's ready to go out and try and win some points.”
Thorbjørn Olesen: “Relief is my first emotion, that's for sure. It's been a tough week, a long week. A lot of things on my mind. It's been difficult but it's been great to learn that different kind of pressure. I think I handled it pretty well. There were a couple of things that could have been better, but it was a tough week and I feel pretty happy now. To make the team automatically probably makes it that little bit more special, but it's nice to place yourself in the team, and being inside that top eight will probably make me feel a little bit more comfortable when I get to The Ryder Cup. I'm happy and I'm very proud of myself, the way I've done things this summer and I've handled myself.”
Round four scores:
269 M Wallace (Eng) 68 68 66 67 (*Wallace wins play-off at second extra hole), L Westwood (Eng) 68 65 67 69, J Thomson (Eng) 64 69 68 68, S Brown (Eng) 70 68 63 68,
270 E Van Rooyen (RSA) 67 70 68 65,
271 L Bjerregaard (Den) 66 71 68 66,
272 T Detry (Bel) 67 68 66 71, M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 72 68 66 66,
273 A Chesters (Eng) 69 70 68 66,
274 S Horsfield (Eng) 67 67 71 69, A Otaegui (Esp) 70 67 68 69,
275 S Kjeldsen (Den) 73 66 69 67, R Evans (Eng) 67 71 72 65, P Khongwatmai (Tha) 68 69 72 66, M Baldwin (Eng) 66 69 71 69, R Ramsay (Sco) 69 71 68 67,
276 R Sterne (RSA) 71 66 68 71, R Rock (Eng) 67 70 70 69, A Olsen (Nor) 72 68 66 70,
277 S Fernandez (Esp) 67 73 73 64, M Southgate (Eng) 68 70 69 70, C Shinkwin (Eng) 71 66 67 73, C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 66 65 73 73, T Olesen (Den) 73 69 67 68, J Smith (Eng) 70 70 70 67, J Janewattananond (Tha) 67 71 70 69,
278 J Walters (RSA) 70 70 66 72, N Colsaerts (Bel) 68 72 72 66, N Tinning (Den) 69 68 70 71, P Oriol (Esp) 68 72 67 71, R Wattel (Fra) 73 69 67 69, S Gallacher (Sco) 72 69 68 69, P Angles (Esp) 72 66 69 71,
279 J Morrison (Eng) 69 73 69 68, D Drysdale (Sco) 68 70 70 71, T Pieters (Bel) 69 68 72 70,
280 R McEvoy (Eng) 67 71 70 72, R Gouveia (Por) 71 71 69 69, H Tanihara (Jpn) 71 71 70 68, M Nixon (Eng) 73 69 69 69, H Stewart (USA) 66 70 72 72, F Dreier (Den) 72 69 70 69, F Zanotti (Par) 69 68 74 69, H Porteous (RSA) 70 72 69 69,
281 C Hanson (Eng) 70 67 71 73, O Farr (Wal) 75 67 71 68, J Lagergren (Swe) 68 72 70 71, G Stal (Fra) 74 67 71 69,
282 A Wu (Chn) 70 68 73 71, J Geary (Nzl) 66 73 73 70, J Hansen (Den) 72 70 71 69, M Kinhult (Swe) 68 74 70 70, J Choi (Kor) 73 69 73 67, B Dredge (Wal) 71 68 71 72, N Cullen (Aus) 70 71 72 69,
283 S Vincent (Zim) 69 73 70 71, D Horsey (Eng) 73 68 72 70, M Millar (Aus) 72 69 69 73, A Saddier (Fra) 71 71 72 69, C Ford (Eng) 72 70 69 72, R Bland (Eng) 72 68 69 74, M Fraser (Aus) 74 68 69 72, E Pepperell (Eng) 70 69 74 70, P Peterson (USA) 71 67 72 73,
284 N Møller (Den) 69 73 72 70, T Lewis (Eng) 70 68 73 73, B Rumford (Aus) 66 71 78 69, J Donaldson (Wal) 67 74 70 73,
285 T Bjørn (Den) 70 69 71 75, J Scrivener (Aus) 71 69 72 73,
288 O Fisher (Eng) 71 71 71 75, T Aiken (RSA) 72 70 72 74,
289 P Widegren (Swe) 69 73 76 71,
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