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Indian Open: Matt Wallace outlasts Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston in playoff

By Mike Randleman

NEW DELHI, INDIA - MARCH 11: Matt Wallace of England poses for a picture with the trophy after winning the play off during day four of The Hero Indian Open at Dlf Golf and Country Club on March 11, 2018 in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)
NEW DELHI, INDIA - MARCH 11: Matt Wallace of England poses for a picture with the trophy after winning the play off during day four of The Hero Indian Open at Dlf Golf and Country Club on March 11, 2018 in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images) /
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Matt Wallace beat fan favorite Andrew “Beef” Johnston in a playoff at the Indian Open, bringing home his second European Tour championship.

If there’s one thing about Matt Wallace we’ve learned, it’s that he knows how to win golf tournaments.

The 27-year-old Englishman won six times in 2016 on the Alps Tour. He’s since climbed to the European Tour where he’s now won twice after Sunday’s win at the Hero Indian Open at DLF Golf and Country Club.

Wallace beat countryman Andrew “Beef” Johnston in the first playoff hole, the par-5 18th. Wallace crushed a drive and then his approach shot to set up no more than a 20-footer for eagle.

It was redemption after Wallace failed to birdie the same hole minutes earlier to win in regulation.

Beef made it a three-shot hole to set up a lengthy birdie bid. It was a beautiful long range putt, but it hit the cup and spit out, handing Wallace an easy two-putt to win.

At one point, Wallace was headed towards a short stay in India.

"“I played great,” Wallace was quoted by the European Tour. “Ever since being three over through eight at the start of the week I’ve played some of the best golf of my life and to do it in that style at the end there capped it off.”"

Despite playing the difficult back-nine — where Wallace began Thursday — in five-over for the week, he was brilliant on the front to fight back for the 54-hole lead with India’s Shubhankar Sharma.

Sharma was the apple of the gallery’s eye this week, but he ran out of gas on Sunday, vying for his third European Tour win on the young season. The 21-year-old shot 75 to fade for a tie for seventh, which should still be enough to get him into the top 64 in the world to qualify for the WGC-Match Play in two weeks.

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Wallace matched Johnston’s four-under 32 on the front nine Sunday as the two began to build some separation from the field.

Wallace birdied No. 10 and appeared to be cruising. It would be his last birdie as he played the back nine in even-par 36 for a 68 total. Johnston was the only one to play the back nine bogey-free as he carded the low round of the day, a 66, to force the playoff.

Heading into the week, Wallace was humming along nicely with five cuts made in six events in 2018, but this was a big step up. His best finish so far was a T19 two weeks ago at the Qatar Masters.

Wallace was second in the field in putting as part of a well-rounded performance.

Where’s the Beef?

After some injury woes and an unsuccessful trial on the PGA Tour, Beef is regaining his form. His solo second-place finish was his first top five since 2016 when he had his breakout win.

Beef now owns three top-12 finishes and two more in the top 50 in 2018.

“I’m very happy with the way I played this year,” Johnston was quoted by the European Tour. “Last year was tough. This year’s start has been good so I’ve just got to keep pushing on and keep working hard.”

Not a terribly long hitter, Johnston stuck by his game plan in the playoff..

"“I didn’t like the yardage at the 18th. It felt like it was just setting me down the left towards the traps a lot of the time,” Johnston said.  “I said, ‘this is a percentage golf course and stick to it’. I’ve been hitting the wedges well, putting well and sticking to my game plan and that was what I worked for.”"

Next: PGA Tour, Titleist weigh in on raging golf ball distance debate

Chip shots

  • It was a big week for Sihwan Kim. The 29-year-old American playing primarily on the Asian Tour, made the most of a European Tour start by notching a career-best third-place finish (-8). He should move up significantly from world No. 474 and now has a reasonable shot at earning his European Tour card. Kim was also one of five players to post four rounds of par or better this week at the tough DLF G&CC.
  • Who’s next in line to win? It appears to be Pablo Larrazabal. The Spaniard tied for fourth (-7) for his third top-five in his last four starts.
  • South Africa’s Keith Horne had the epitome of and up and down week with scores of 66-73-80-68 en route to a T12 at four-under.
  • More notable results: 6. Emiliano Grillo (-5); T9. Joost Luiten (-2); T12. Hideto Tanihara (-1); T32. 17-year-old Indian amateur Kshitij Naveed Kaul (+5); T34. Anirban Lahiri, Thomas Bjorn (+6); T48. Chris Wood (+9); MC. two-time defending champion and Indian SSP Chawrasia (+7), Thongchai Jaidee (+10), Julian Suri (+14)
  • The European Tour co-sanctions the WGC-Match Play Championship in Austin, Texas, in two weeks but does not hold its own tournament until the Open de España April 12-15.

Top-10 leaderboard

1. Matt Wallace (69-70-70-68) -11

2. Andrew Johnston (72-66-73-66) -11

3. Sihwan Kim (70-70-72-68) -8

T4.  Pablo Larrazabal (67-71-74-69), Matthias Schwab (71-72-68-70) -7

6. Emiliano Grillo (65-68-78-72) -5

T7. Stephen Gallacher (72-71-67-74), Shubhankar Sharma (73-64-72-75) – 4

T9. Jinho Choi (72-71-72-71), Joost Luiten (71-69-74-72), Aaron Rai (71-73-69-73) -2

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