Tag: Omega European Masters

Matt Wallace captures European Masters in playoff, ends DP World Tour drought

Wallace needed 73 holes to end a six-year drought.

Matt Wallace needed 73 holes to end a six-year drought.

The 34-year-old, who won for the first time on the PGA Tour in 2023, didn’t have a good year in the United States, finishing 112th in the FedEx Cup standings to miss out on the playoffs.

If his offseason goal was to right the ship, he’s off to an excellent start.

Wallace captured the 2024 Omega European Masters on Sunday at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in Switzerland, breaking a six-year winless drought on the DP World Tour. Wallace led throughout the week, but he had to go to extra holes against Alfredo Garcia-Heredia to pick up his fifth win on the DP World Tour.

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“Knackered, that was a hard day,” Wallace said. “It wasn’t easy, but I felt there was a score out there but couldn’t get anything going.”

Wallace shot even par on Sunday, but Garcia-Heredia birdied the last to get to 11 under and tie Wallace, fording the playoff. Both players tee shots found the fairway, but Wallace stuffed his approach and buried the birdie putt.

Andrew Johnston, better known as Beef, had his best finish in four years, placing third.

Matt Wallace is thumping the field at DP World Tour’s Omega European Masters

What’s Wallace’s true motivation during this stretch? Luke Donald’s eye.

Matt Wallace had a respectable season on the PGA Tour, making 20 starts and reaching the weekend 13 times. He finished with over $1 million in earnings and posted four top-25 finishes, including a T-4 at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson outside Dallas.

But he’s still grinding this fall on the DP World Tour, posting an eighth-place finish at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo last week and now surging out to the lead this week at the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre in Switzerland.

Wallace opened the event with a 64, but followed it up with an even better round, draining five birdies on the front during a second round that saw him finish with a 62. At 14 under, he leads Alex Fitzpatrick by four strokes.

But what’s Wallace’s true motivation during this stretch? It’s to impress Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald.

“It’s not just about the win, it’s playing well,” he said.

“Luke wants you to play well and I want to play well so I’m going to try to play well every single day and what comes from it comes from it.”

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Donald will again choose six wild cards for Europe’s Ryder Cup team, with the six qualifiers for next year’s trophy defense taken from just one ranking list.

Qualifying points will be earned using a new tournament banding structure weighted towards performances in the majors and biggest PGA Tour and DP World Tour events, but LIV Golf tournaments remain unable to award points.

As for maintaining a big lead, Wallace insisted he’s looking to simply keep pressing.

“It is good, competition, but I want to get away from the competition as much as possible.”

Henrik Norlander and Jordan Smith are five strokes back in third place.

Ludvig Aberg makes Ryder Cup claim with first professional win on DP World Tour

Aberg’s win comes in just his sixth start on the DP World Tour.

Well that didn’t take long.

Rookie Ludvig Aberg claimed his first professional victory on Sunday at the DP World Tour’s 2023 Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in Crans Montana, Switzerland.

“I don’t even know where to start, it’s a pretty surreal feeling to be honest. Obviously super, super happy,” said Aberg. “I’ve always had that belief that I’ve been able to do it, but to do it is pretty cool.”

The 23-year-old rising star from Sweden fired a 6-under 64 after bogeying his first hole to finish at 19 under, two shots clear of Alexander Bjork (66) and three clear of Matt Fitzpatrick (69) and Connor Syme (67). The win comes in Aberg’s sixth start on the European-based circuit.

“I started the day three back, I knew Matt was playing well so I needed to put a big score up,” said Aberg. “Felt I was playing pretty well all day, just wasn’t making any putts. Got it going on the back nine.”

The hype has been building around Aberg – who sits 200th in the Official World Golf Ranking but 17th in the Golfweek/Sagarin ranking – for a few years now and has reached its peak seeing as the win comes just a day before European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald will make his six captain’s picks for the upcoming matches in Italy later this month. After all, Aberg was paired with European vice captains Nicolas Colsaerts and Edoardo Molinari for the first two rounds at the European Masters.

“It’s a testament that I’m doing good stuff,” he added. “Winning any tournament is a lot of fun, to do it this quickly (as a professional), I’m over the moon.”

Aberg became the first player in history to earn PGA Tour membership via PGA Tour University earlier this season and made his pro debut at the RBC Canadian Open. This season on Tour, the former star at Texas Tech has four top-25 finishes in seven starts, including a T-4 at the John Deere Classic.

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While Matt Fitzpatrick leads the Omega European Masters, Ryder Cup hopeful Ludvig Aberg sits T-2

Catch up on Saturday’s action from Switzerland here.

While the United States roster may be set for Rome, there are several Europeans still vying for positioning at this week’s DP World Tour event.

Rory McIlroy (European Points List), Jon Rahm (European Points List), Viktor Hovland (World Points List) and Tyrrell Hatton (World Points List) have already automatically qualified, and the final two automatic spots — one spot from each points list — will become official after Sunday’s final round of the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre GC in Crans Montana, Switzerland.

Matt Fitzpatrick (15 under), who sits three points behind Tommy Fleetwood for the final World Points List automatic spot, will look to close the deal Sunday when he tees off with a two-shot lead thanks to a third-round 3-under 67.

The Englishman has seen a resurgence in his game over the last month, tying for second at the BMW Championship and for ninth at the Tour Championship, and it seems his stellar form has made the trip with him across the pond.

Omega Masters: Full leaderboard

After playing his first 12 holes 2 under Saturday, Fitzpatrick stumbled at the par-3 13th, putting his tee shot in the water and eventually signing for a double-bogey 5. He got right back on the horse, however, making birdies at Nos. 14, 15 and 18 to solidify his two-shot advantage.

If Fitzpatrick is able to earn a spot on Luke Donald’s squad, it’d be his third appearance at the biennial event (2016, 2021).

Ludvig Aberg of Sweden plays his tee shot on the seventh hole during Day Three of the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club on September 02, 2023 in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

One of the faces in Fitzpatrick’s rearview mirror is Ludvig Aberg, a rising star in the game who is a heavy favorite to be one of Donald’s six captain’s picks. (Data Golf says Aberg has a 70.4 percent chance to make the team, ninth among all Europeans). In seven starts on the PGA Tour this season, Aberg grabbed four top-25 finishes highlighted by a T-4 at the John Deere Classic.

The Swede has been solid all week, opening with a 64 on Thursday and following it up with a 67 on Friday. He kept the momentum going on moving day, firing a 4-under 66 that has him tied for second alongside Alexander Bjork and Connor Syme.

Aberg’s performance in Switzerland shouldn’t come as a surprise as he tied for fourth at last week’s D+D Real Czech Masters. If he can chase down Fitzpatrick on Sunday, it’d be his first win as a professional.

Alex Fitzpatrick, Matt’s younger brother, and Nicolai Hojgaard are tied for fifth at 12 under, three back.

Matt Fitzpatrick battling brother for Ryder Cup spot a ‘nightmare’ for parents

The sibling rivalry just might get kicked up a notch this weekend.

Since he’s four years older, Matt Fitzpatrick has never gone down to the wire in a major competition against his brother Alex. The two missed each other in junior competitions and have largely played on different professional tours.

But the sibling rivalry just might get kicked up a notch this weekend at the DP World Tour’s Omega European Masters in the idyllic backdrop of Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in Switzerland.

With a 5-under 65 on Friday in the second round, Matt held on to a one-stroke edge over Alexander Bjork. But while the eight-time DP World Tour winner and 2022 U.S. Open champ is still battling his way into the European Ryder Cup team, brother Alex is just two strokes behind and firmly in the hunt.

This could conceivably bring plenty of stress to the whole family.

“It’s gonna be a nightmare for my parents,” Matt joked after the round.

For Alex, who shot a second consecutive 65 on Friday and now sits in a third-place tie with Frenchman Romain Langasque, the chance to push his brother is one he’s relishing.

“He’s my brother but he’s also a competitor so I’m still trying to beat him,” he said. “I shot five under and didn’t gain any ground today so that was a little frustrating. It would be good. I’ve played a little bit of golf with him now in competitive events and it would be fun to go against him.”

Alex continues to keep a hot hand after he captured a European Challenge Tour title in May. The Wake Forest product came in second in the recent ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland and finished T-14 in last week’s Czech Masters.

And while Matt thinks a head-to-head scenario could create major butterflies for parents Susan and Russell, Alex feels a final-round pairing could be beneficial to the duo.

“Our parents would probably be happy because it would mean less walking, they can walk one round instead of two,” he said.

Matt is almost a lock to be selected to the European side for the upcoming Ryder Cup, although he’s a winless 0-5-0 in two previous appearances.

But he has added some speed to his game and knows how to handle the pressure of the sport’s biggest moments. The 29-year-old Englishman will feature on this team for the foreseeable future and his familiarity with the course won’t hurt — he finished runner-up at the 2022 Italian Open at Marco Simone after losing a playoff to Robert MacIntyre.

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