Round 4 - Wire to wire win for Matt Wallace

May 15, 2017

Matt Wallace completed an unlikely wire-to-wire victory Sunday in the Open de Portugal to earn a European Tour card.

The 27-year-old Englishman closed with a 4-under 69 for a three-stroke victory over American Julian Suri. Making only his fourth European Tour start, Wallace finished at 19-under 281 at Morgado.

Wallace won five straight tournaments and six overall last season on the Alps Tour to earn a spot on the European Tour's developmental Challenge Tour.

''I didn't see it coming. I never envisioned standing here,'' Wallace said. ''I just tried to go through my processes and work as hard as I could to be standing here today.''

He planned a simple celebration.

''I'll have a few beers,'' Wallace said.

He opened with rounds of 63, 66 and 73 to take a three-stroke lead into the final round.

''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,'' Wallace said.

Suri shot a 65. France's Matt Pavon (69) was third at 15 under.

Round 3 - Matt Wallace holds on to three shot lead

May 14, 2017

Matt Wallace remains on course for a wire-to-wire win at the Portugal Open despite seeing his lead trimmed by Sebastian Heisele.

A combination of first-day storms and darkness on Friday meant that Wallace, who led Heisele by five shots overnight, had to complete six holes of his second round on Saturday.

The Englishman had not dropped a shot through 38 holes of the tournament, but four birdies were negated by as many dropped during his third round as he signed for a level-par 73 that left him 17 under overall.

Heisele, another man playing catch up after being held up on round two, consequently made inroads into his rival's advantage with a two-under 71 and is just three shots adrift.

The German gained birdies at the second, seventh and 13th holes and made just a solitary bogey at the fifth.

Sam Walker was also on the charge on 'moving day'. The Englishman recorded seven birdies and two bogeys and is now four shots back of compatriot Wallace on 13 under.

Matthieu Pavon and Tapio Pulkkanen are 12 and 11 under respectively, while Mark Foster charged up the leaderboard – a six-under 67 seeing him join a cluster of seven players in a tie for sixth.

Round 2 - Matt Wallace extends lead to five shots

May 13, 2017

Matt Wallace extended his lead to five shots in the weather-affected Open de Portugal at Morgado Golf Resort on Friday.

Wallace, who carded 10 birdies in a flawless opening 63, added five more in the first 12 holes of his second round before play was suspended due to darkness, a knock-on effect of the time lost due Thursday's thunderstorms.

The 27-year-old Londoner, who won five tournaments in succession on the Alps Tour last season and six times in total, started on the back nine and picked up shots on the 10th, 12th, 13th and 16th to reach the turn in 33.

Further birdies on the first and third took Wallace to 16 under par and five ahead of Germany's Sebastian Heisele, who followed his opening 64 by carding three birdies and a bogey in 12 holes on day two.

England's Ashley Chesters and France's Matthieu Pavon had set the clubhouse target on nine under after rounds of 71 and 69 respectively.

Pavon was one under par after nine holes when the first round was suspended and when play resumed at 0830 local time on Friday, he made four birdies on the back nine to post a bogey-free 68.

The 24-year-old was soon back out on the course and carded six birdies and two bogeys in round two, while Chesters had an eagle, four birdies and four bogeys in his 71.

"I had a bit of momentum this afternoon," Pavon said. "I played very solid to finish round one this morning, which gave me confidence going into round two straight afterwards and I managed to make a few birdies straight away.

"My game has been a little up and down over the two days but my short game has been pretty good, so that has helped a lot."

Round 1 - Matt Wallace leads with opening 63

May 12, 2017

Matt Wallace produced a dazzling first round that included 10 birdies to hit the front at a stormy Portugal Open.

The Englishman was in formidable form in Portimao on Thursday, but his 10-under 63 only proved enough for a one-shot lead over Sebastian Heisele.

In just his ninth round on the European Tour, Wallace became the sixth player this season to card 10 birdies – five of which came in succession from 12 to 16 – and the first to do so without dropping a shot.

"It was a fantastic round really. It wasn't looking great at the start when the rain came in 10 minutes before my tee time. Then it stopped just as we got on to the tee, so that was kind of a good omen," said Wallace.

"Everything was working well to be honest. Everything clicked. I made two good par saves on the front nine to keep the momentum going. After that every hole was at least a birdie chance, so it was a really good day."

Heisele eagled the par-five seventh and did brilliantly to stay close to Wallace, but dropped shots at six and 11 to sit second on the leaderboard.

Julian Suri, Paul Maddy and Jamie Rutherford all produced bogey-free rounds to take a share of third, four shots adrift of the summit.

Play was suspended in the afternoon due to the threat of lightning, with Jeff Winther, Robert Dinwiddie and Damien Perrier two under through three holes.

They will resume their rounds on Friday morning, along with a handful of players who were unable to take to the tee.

Scores

 

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