Fire & Focus

Matt Wallace has enjoyed huge success in his short professional career, but the fiercely ambitious Englishman is setting his sights even higher. Michael Weston went to meet him

- Michael Weston

There’s a swagger about Matt Wallace at the BMW PGA Championship. It’s there the moment he arrives at Wentworth and strides onto the range, and it’s there throughout Wednesday’s Pro-Am. When he fires a scintillating seven-under-par 65 to top the leaderboard after the opening round, there’s a definite spring in his step. When is he anything but confident? Well, you might not know it looking at his results, but Wallace has not been himself – he’s been restless, anxious to kick on.

Ever since taking the Alps Tour by storm in 2016 – when he won six times in the nine events he entered – Wallace has been in a hurry. He landed his first European Tour victory at the Portugal Open in 2017. Then, just one season later, he recorded a hat-trick of titles with wins in India, Germany and Denmark. The expectation levels have changed, as have the standards he sets himself.

“It’s difficult to gauge how well it’s gone,” says the 29-year-old. “It’s obviously gone unbelievably well, but I feel like I’ve plateaued a little bit. I feel a little bit disappointed, but if I look at the bigger picture and look at how well I’ve done, it’s gone pretty well.”

Really, it’s a bit of an understatement. Four wins in the space of 16 months is extremely good going by anyone’s standards, but Wallace is not one to rest on his laurels. “I always believed I could win. I always knew that when I was selling myself to sponsors. I was like ‘I can win, I know I can win, just help me get to these events… please’.”