Matt Wallace happy to see Ryder Cup postponed for a year
"I've made it clear that I probably wouldn't have made the Ryder Cup this year. I wasn't playing well enough so I wouldn't have deserved to be in." Matt Wallace expresses his relief at the Ryder Cup postponement
By Keith Jackson
Last Updated: 01/12/20 12:43pm
Matt Wallace is determined to "stake a claim" for a Ryder Cup debut and feels he would have struggled to make the European team had the contest not been delayed for a year.
Wallace was knocking on the door of the world's top 20 two seasons ago and many felt he was unfortunate to be overlooked by Thomas Bjorn for the 2018 Ryder Cup in Paris.
But the Englishman is now without a victory since the Made In Denmark over two years ago, and he has posted only two top-10 finishes in 2020 - a frustrating run of results that has seen him drop to 51st in the current world rankings.
However, Wallace heads into this week's inaugural Golf In Dubai Championship buoyed by some encouraging recent performances in the United States, and he is confident of building a platform to push for a Ryder Cup place at Whistling Straits next September.
"The delay has been perfect for me, I've made it clear that I probably wouldn't have made the Ryder Cup this year," said Wallace. "I wasn't playing well enough so I wouldn't have deserved to be in.
"But now I'm playing better golf and I'm lucky with what's happened in that way and come the start of next year I want to be pushing for that. Obviously good golf will take care of that so that's what I have to do, definitely staking a claim that I want to be there at Whistling Straits.
"I'm feeling really good, and I'm excited for the next couple of weeks. I've been playing nicely, had a couple of events over in the States and then had last week off, didn't touch a club. And it was nice to come back to know I can still hit a golf shot. I've got my coaches out here this week as well, so that's nice.
"My game's right there. Golf is hard, especially over in America where the standard is so high. Everyone is playing so well. I led after the first round at RSM Classic, played really nicely and I was putting great.
"I had done a lot of work on the putting the week before so it was good to see that come good. It fizzled out a little but I didn't hole as many putts at the weekend and finished 37th, so the standard over in America is really high.
"My game is there and I'm just being consistent, doing the same thing over and over and hopefully I can produce another result like Scotland and give myself a chance.
"Now is where I believe I should be able to compete, I'm playing really well and my expectations are there for me to do the same things on the golf course as I'm doing in practice rounds. I'm showing that on the course, so I just need to do that again.
"My expectations are there to produce and where I'm at in the world, 51 having moved outside of the top 50 so I'm looking to move back inside."
