Wallace claims Hero Indian Open in sudden-death
Matt Wallace shows off the Hero Indian Open trophy. Picture: Getty Images
England’s Matt Wallace hit a stunning four-iron to 12 feet at the first extra hole to set up his second European Tour win in 32 starts in the Hero Indian Open.
An Alps Tour player just two years ago, Wallace (27) closed with a 68 to match clubhouse leader Andrew Johnston on 11-under par before two-putting for a birdie and victory in the playoff on the par-five 18th.
"I’m ecstatic," said Wallace, who breaks into the world's top 100. "I just played some amazing golf. Beef really had a great round today because I was playing fantastic and thought I might have been a few more clear.
"I hit some really good shots in that play-off. I pumped it down there on the last, and it went a long way, and then the four iron went even further than I thought it would so I was jacked up a bit. To hit two shots like that is exactly why I play the game.
“With the people that were coming up behind me, there were some real class players. Beef’s putt on the last should have gone in, and it's just been my day today."
Wallace entered the final day at Delhi’s DLF Golf and Country Club tied for the lead with local hero Shubhankar Sharma.
But as Sharma struggled to a 75, running up three double bogeys to slip to tied seventh with Stephen Gallacher on four-under, Wallace chipped in at the 10th to go five under for the day and after a bogey on the 16th, parred the last two holes to match Johnston, who recorded an impressive bogey-free 66.
Wallace — who won five events in a row and seven in all on the Alps Tour in 2016 — hit a huge drive down the 18th on the first extra hole, caroming off a downslope and leaving himself just a four-iron to the green.
WHAT A SHOT 🚀#HIO2018 pic.twitter.com/A0yKIImW7b
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) March 11, 2018
With Johnston laying up, he then went for broke and hit a stunning approach that pitched pin high, ran to the back of the green and then rolled back to little more than 12 feet.
Johnson’s third finished 20 feet away, but he lipped out for birdie, leaving Wallace to trundle his eagle putt to the hole side and tap in for his second win since his wire-to-wire victory in the Open de Portugal at Morgado Golf Resort less than 10 months ago.
"I feel good as I played very well today, like I did on Friday," Johnston said. "I was happy to be able to put up a good score today and force a playoff.
"I’m very happy with the way I played this year. Last year was tough. This year's start has been good, so I just got to keep pushing on and keep working hard."
American Sihwan Kim finished third on eight under par, a shot clear of Spain’s Pablo Larrazábal and Matthias Schwab of Austria, with Argentinian Emiliano Grillo sixth on five-under par.
Darren Clarke had another disappointing weekend after making the cut on one-over, closing with rounds of 83 and 79 to finish 63rd on 19-over par.
Hero Indian Open, DLF Golf and Country Club, Delhi (Par 72)
277 M Wallace (Eng) 69 70 70 68, A Johnston (Eng) 72 66 73 66
Wallace won with a birdie at the first sudden-death hole
280 S Kim (USA) 70 70 72 68,
281 P Larrazábal (Esp) 67 71 74 69, M Schwab (Aut) 71 72 68 70,
283 E Grillo (Arg) 65 68 78 72,
284 S Gallacher (Sco) 72 71 67 74, S Sharma (Ind) 73 64 72 75,
286 J Luiten (Ned) 71 69 74 72, A Rai (Eng) 71 73 69 73, J Choi (Kor) 72 71 72 71,
287 H Tanihara (Jpn) 74 68 72 73, K Horne (RSA) 66 73 80 68, C Sordet (Fra) 72 72 71 72, R Rock (Eng) 73 73 74 67,
288 J Morrison (Eng) 70 72 77 69, S Brown (Eng) 74 71 70 73, P Pittayarat (Tha) 69 70 76 73, R Gouveia (Por) 69 73 71 75, G Green (Mas) 69 73 75 71, J Dantorp (Swe) 69 70 79 70,
289 C O'Toole (USA) 74 66 77 72,
290 P Peterson (USA) 67 73 73 77, G Havret (Fra) 73 72 73 72,
291 S Gros (Fra) 69 71 76 75, A Wall (Eng) 71 73 72 75, C Shih-Chang (Tpe) 71 71 75 74, W Ormsby (Aus) 71 72 78 70, J Todd (USA) 72 74 70 75,
292 A Chesters (Eng) 74 71 76 71, D Boonma (Tha) 71 76 70 75,
293 J Randhawa (Ind) 72 72 76 73, K Kaul (am) (Ind) 70 76 77 70,
294 T Bjørn (Den) 70 72 79 73, R Evans (Eng) 76 71 77 70, S Fernandez (Esp) 73 73 77 71, J Donaldson (Wal) 71 70 74 79, N Srithong (Tha) 76 70 74 74, A Lahiri (Ind) 72 73 75 74,
295 K Joshi (Ind) 72 68 81 74, N Elvira (Esp) 75 72 75 73, A Sandhu (Ind) 68 76 74 77, J Scrivener (Aus) 73 74 75 73, W Liang (Chn) 75 72 75 73, J Wang (Kor) 69 71 78 77,
296 K Kitayama (USA) 72 71 83 70, Y Chang (Kor) 73 72 78 73,
297 C Wood (Eng) 77 69 75 76, N Fung (Mas) 69 73 80 75, K Kochhar (Ind) 75 72 76 74,
298 M Shin (USA) 73 73 77 75,
299 U Mane (Ind) 72 75 79 73,
300 S Lee (Kor) 71 75 83 71, D Gleeson (Aus) 75 70 77 78, A Wu (Chn) 72 74 83 71, M Warren (Sco) 68 72 86 74,
302 E Molinari (Ita) 71 72 77 82, P Meesawat (Tha) 72 73 79 78, M Manassero (Ita) 67 79 78 78,
303 G Storm (Eng) 79 68 80 76, M Fraser (Aus) 73 73 76 81,
305 A Saddier (Fra) 67 78 81 79,
307 Darren Clarke (Nir) 72 73 83 79,
311 A Que (Phi) 76 71 84 80, S Yongcharoenchai (Tha) 75 71 84 81,
312 L Weber (Fra) 73 74 84 81.
