DP World Tour Championship: Matt Wallace birdies entire back nine to lead Tommy Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland

Wallace flew home to shoot 60 and take a one-shot leading into the final round in Dubai
Matt Verri18 November 2023

Matt Wallace birdied every hole on the back nine as he marched up the leaderboard to take a one-shot lead into the final round of the DP World Tour Championship.

The Englishman started the day seven shots off the lead and began his Saturday round nicely in Dubai, but there was no indication of the fireworks that were to come.

Wallace made the turn at three-under for his day and then went on to make birdie on all nine holes that followed, carding a stunning round of 60 that was four shots better than any other player in the field managed.

His run of consecutive birdies and a back-nine 27 equalled DP World Tour records, though the fact preferred lies were in place for the third round means Wallace will not take his place in the record breaks.

That will not concern him too much, as he heads into Sunday at the season-ending event one shot clear of Tommy Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland.

Matt Wallace made 12 birdies as he shot a third-round 60
Getty Images

"What a day, amazing day," Wallace told Sky Sports.

"I just tried my hardest to get myself back in the tournament, so I'm really happy that I've been able to do that. Played great.

Wallace's longest birdie putt in his final seven holes was a little over six feet, as he put on a masterclass in ball striking and approach play on the Earth Court at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

He got up-and-down from a greenside bunker to make birdie on the 18th hole, and admitted after the round that he was unaware an eagle on that par-five would have seen him shoot 59.

"At the end I didn't even think that it was for a 59," Wallace said.

"Kind of gutted now actually a little bit. Great opportunity to do it. I’ve done it at Moor Park on the West Course [in Hertfordshire] which is only a par-68, but to do it out there would have been really special today.

"Ball in hand helps. I had a couple good lies for up-and-down, but it was fantastic and a good effort.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in