Memorable victory in Portugal for  wonderful Wallace

 

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS REPORT

Hillingdon-born Matt Wallace held his nerve to complete a wire-to-wire victory at the Open de Portugal at Morgado Golf Resort, north of Portimao on the Algarve.

He held a five-shot lead at the halfway stage and went into the final round three clear, but Wallace saw his advantage reduced to a single stroke by first German Sebastian Heisele and then American Julian Suri.

But the 27 year old Englishman found birdies at key times and produced a third blemish-free round of the week to sign for a closing 69 and 21 under par total of 271, finishing three strokes clear of the field.

After a sedate start featuring six straight pars, Wallace made gains at the seventh and ninth to keep his nose in front.

However, with Suri looming, it was a five iron third to tap-in distance following a poor drive at the par-five 13th that set up a birdie to send him two clear again, and another gain at the 16th sealed victory in style

Suri rattled in nine birdies in his first 15 holes only to ease the pressure on Wallace slightly when he dropped his only shot of the day at the 17^th, eventually finishing three shots back at 178 under par.

France's Matthieu Pavon was third on 16 under, with Heisele and England's Sam Walker a shot further back in fourth.

Wallace won six times on the Alps Tour last season - five of those victories coming in a row - to secure a place on the Challenge Tour.

However, he now finds himself in possession of a European Tour card for the remainder of the 2017 season after maintaining the winning habit in only his fourth event at this level.
SCOTSWATCH: David Drysdale was the highest finishing Scot in T48 position, which earned him 2,250 Euros. Grant Forrest and Paul Lawrie were both on the T59 mark. Each earned 1,350 euros. Duncan Stewart finished T68 and earned 905 euros.

Player Quotes

Matt Wallace: "It's the best feeling ever. It's always been a dream to win on the European Tour. Those first two days were really easy, that third day was the hardest day of my life and today was tough but it's so satisfying and I'm really happy.

"The best shot was definitely on the par five 13th,I  didn't hit a great tee shot and managed to get away with it and get out on to the fairway. I left myself 200 yards and managed to hit a five iron stiff. That was the turning point where I thought 'right, I've got this'. 
"I didn't see it coming, I never envisioned standing here, I just tried to go through my processes and work as hard as I could to be standing here today. Portugal is going to have a place in my heart now."
Julian Suri: "I got off to a great start. The key thing for me was that yesterday after I finished, I had a tough putting day, so I put in about two hours of work on the green last night. Then I came in three hours before my tee time today to hit some putts.

"I was really starting to trust my putting by the end of that practice time and it just carried over into my front nine.

"I birdied the first three, made a great birdie on five, and then got another on nine. From there I was rolling and really got the juices flowing.

"I’m very happy with that score. It’s been a long time coming."

Matthieu Pavon:  "It was a pretty good round. I didn't hole that many putts but it was okay. I made a good birdie on the ninth and tenth but after that the back nine was a little bit quiet. 

"Everything was pretty good - this is the week I was waiting for this season so now I'm going to go forward and try to keep the same feelings. 

"When I was on the Alps tour I won a tournament from five back on the last day. I started well, I had my chance, but it was too quiet today with my putter on the back nine."

 

FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)

271 M Wallace (Eng) 63 66 73 69 
274 J Suri (USA) 67 68 74 65
276 M Pavon (Fra) 68 69 70 69
277 S Heisele (Ger) 64 70 71 72, S Walker (Eng) 69 69 68 71 
278 B Evans (Eng) 68 68 73 69, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 69 70 69 70, O Fisher (Eng) 69 72 68 69, M Foster (Eng) 70 72 67 69,
279 E Van Rooyen (SAf) 68 69 72 70, M Armitage (Eng) 70 68 71 70
280 R Rock (Eng) 69 69 72 70, T Linard (Fra) 68 75 69 68, P Widegren (Swe) 73 70 72 65
281 R Evans (Eng) 71 68 71 71, P Oriol (Spn) 68 70 72 71, J Abbott (Eng) 70 71 71 69
282 E Goya (Arg) 71 68 75 68, A Chesters (Eng) 66 71 75 70, T Lewis (Eng) 71 70 70 71, M Orrin (Eng) 69 73 72 68,
283 A Quiros (Esp) 70 73 75 65, A Rai (Eng) 70 72 74 67, J Lima (Por) 67 71 71 74, R Kakko (Fin) 70 70 72 71 
284 D Van Driel (Ned) 67 75 73 69, M Baldwin (Eng) 71 69 73 71, L Canter (Eng) 70 68 73 73, C Braeunig (Ger) 68 69 76 71, C Ford (Eng) 73 68 70 73, A Saddier (Fra) 68 71 73 72, M Nixon (Eng) 69 72 74 69, J Garcia Pinto (Spn) 70 73 67 74, S Fernandez (Spn) 69 72 73 70
285 O Stark (Swe) 73 70 71 71, T Fisher jun (SAf) 69 69 78 69, M Tullo (Chi) 68 70 72 75, S Webster (Eng) 74 69 73 69, M Lampert (Ger) 71 70 72 72, Z Lombard (RSA) 70 70 75 70, M Ford (Eng) 70 69 71 75 
286 G Hurley (Ire) 71 69 71 75, A Meronk (Pol) 71 72 71 72, J Dantorp (Swe) 69 73 71 73, D Perrier (Fra) 70 72 74 70, J Rutherford (Eng) 67 68 75 76, P Figueiredo (Por) 75 68 72 71
287 D Drysdale (Sco) 70 72 73 72, F Mruzek (Cze) 68 72 79 68, S Brown (Eng) 73 69 72 73, R Coles (Eng) 70 69 75 73, B Eccles (Aus) 72 71 74 70
288 A Pavan (Ita) 72 71 75 70, D Foos (Ger) 72 69 74 73, L Gagli (Ita) 75 67 72 74, A Tadini (Ita) 73 70 71 74, J Allan (Eng) 68 72 74 74, J Edfors (Swe) 73 68 74 73 
289 G Forrest (Sco) 70 67 76 76, W Besseling (Ned) 67 73 76 73, J Ahlers (SAf) 71 70 72 76, P Lawrie (Sco) 72 70 73 74, S Khan (Eng) 73 70 72 74
290 J Senior (Eng) 70 72 76 72, S Soderberg (Swe) 75 67 78 70, R Davies (Wal) 69 72 76 73, D Fox (Aus) 71 72 76 71
291 N Cullen (Aus) 71 72 75 73, J Winther (Den) 71 71 72 77, D Stewart (Sco) 74 69 77 71, R Santos (Por) 71 69 74 77
292 P Maddy (Eng) 67 72 76 77
294 B Virto (Spn) 70 73 76 75

                                                                 

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