It was a special round for Matt Wallace on Saturday at the DP World Tour Championship.
The 32-year-old from England shot 12-under 60 in the third round at the DP World Tour Championship, moving into the lead by one shot with 18 holes to play at Jumeirah Golf Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Wallace, who has four DP World Tour wins in his career, leads Viktor Hovland, the 2023 FedEx Cup champion, and Tommy Fleetwood by one shot.
Wallace’s round was special, marked by nine straight birdies on the back nine to shoot 27 and card a 60, the lowest round on the DP World Tour this season.
Matt Wallace of England walks to the 18th green during Day Three of the DP World Tour Championship on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates on November 18, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
“What a day, an amazing day,” Wallace said. “Just tried my hardest to get myself back into the tournament. I’m really happy that I’ve been able to do that. Played great.
“Again at the end, I didn’t even think there was a 59. Honestly I think it helped me a little bit. I just played nicely coming down the stretch, just keep getting one more if I could and I managed to do that.”
Wallace’s eagle chip on the 18th hole came up just short of the hole, however, a closing birdie to cap the stellar back nine was a feather in the cap of the best round of Wallace’s life. With a win Sunday, he would win his first Rolex Series title, even though Rory McIlroy has captured the Race to Dubai, the DP World Tour’s season-long points race, for the fifth time.
UNBELIEVABLE @mattsjwallace
#DPWTC | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/Pqpa4InEhd
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 18, 2023
Hovland and Fleetwood matched 66s on Saturday, continuing their trend from the first two days after matching 69s and 66s the first two days.
Even the FedEx Cup champion was impressed with Wallace’s day.
“That’s ridiculous,” Hovland said. “You know, it played easier today, not a lot of wind. Greens were soft. But the greens are very grainy. It’s hard to make putts. On some of the pin locations, like 17, for example, I don’t know, that’s a tough one to get close to. So there is a lot of good pins. And yeah, I mean, 60 out here, that’s ridiculous.”