Nine birdies in nine holes for Wallace
DUBAI – England’s Matt Wallace made nine birdies in his last nine holes at the Race to Dubai for the lowest round in the season-ending tournament’s history.
The 33-year-old shot a 12-under par 60 but it took the world No.87 to 16-under par total and to the top of the leaderboard. However, it’s the first time that a player has birdied all nine holes of any half of the golf course.
Two Ryder Cup stars – England’s Dubai-based Tommy Fleetwood and Norway’s Viktor Hovland – both shot rounds of 66, but could not make a birdie on the par-5 18th hole and remained one shy of Wallace at 15-under. Denmark’s Jeff Winther, assisted by two eagles on the back nine, moved into solo fourth place at 14-under after a round of 64.
Defending champion and world
No.3 Jon Rahm was in tied ninth place with a bogey-free 67, while world No.2 Rory McIlroy finally came into his own with a 65 that elevated him to tied 19th place.
Wallace said he was unaware that he had a chance to shoot a 59. He missed his second shot on the par-5 18th to the right bunker and made his up-anddown for a birdie when an eagle would have cracked the 60 barrier.
“Kind of gutted now actually. It was a great opportunity to do it. I’ve done it at Moorpark on the West Course, which is only a par 68, but to do it out there would have been really special today,” said Wallace, who had earlier missed a short four-footer putt for birdie on the seventh hole.
Asked if he’d sleep well given the US$3 million winner’s cheque within his grasp tomorrow, Wallace said: “I will. If there was a competition for sleeping, I’d be on the podium each time. Money doesn’t drive me. It inspires me a little bit, but the bigger the tournament, I want to compete in them against the best players. I am happy we’re doing that this week.”
Fleetwood started strongly with four birdies in the first seven holes and then made a long eagle putt on the par-5 14th hole. However, a three-putt bogey on the 17th halted his momentum. Hovland was bogey-free for the round. A win tomorrow would make him only the second player after Henrik Stenson in 2013 to win the Tour Championship of both PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.
The US$10.5 million season-ending championship has a limited field of 50 players. While the Race to Dubai has already been decided in McIlroy’s favour, the top-eight players getting a share of the US$6 million bonus pool will be determined today, as also the 10 PGA Tour cards on offer for the top-10 non-exempt DP World Tour members.