Matt Wallace: From the Alps Tour to the heights of Augusta National

You’ll be completing the major set in April, how do find them?

Winning is everything but the PGA, where I finished 19th which I’m still annoyed about, was incredible. To have a hole-in-one playing with Jordan Spieth was amazing, the best.

To be at Augusta on merit whereas before I had to qualify and that makes you feel a bit like you’re a bit lucky to be there.

Mike Wallace on the tee.. ?? #PGAChamps pic.twitter.com/4yfKGLxpBS

— Matt Wallace (@mattsjwallace) August 11, 2018

Do you get recognised in the street?

No. I live in Pinner but we’re moving to Sunningdale so that’s a bit more golfy.

Do you feel like you’re now famous?

Famous? God, no.

You seem horrified by even the thought of that?

No, I never will. Right now I’m enjoying the attention as it’s at a nice level around golf and I’m doing something right. If it gets bigger then I’ll still be doing something right again so, so be it. The humble thing about golf is that it will find you out at any time so I won’t stop doing the work so I can play proper golf.

I’ll always be known as Mike in America and that will always be the case!

Rock has always said he’ll only go to Augusta if he’s playing, will he be with you?

Yes and Liam, he wants to be there and to coach at Augusta. Rocky knows what to do under pressure on the course so it will be great to have him there and he knows my game well enough to talk to me about a few holes.

And your caddie Dave McNeilly’s been there once or twice?

He was last there with Chris Wood and he’s worked with Faldo, Manassero, Harrington and Nicky Price so he’s not short of experience. He does his own new yardage book each week, that comes with being old school, I thought it was because he didn’t want to pay the money to get a new book!

Matt Wallace and Dave McNeilly

Will you be seeking out the wily veterans for a practice round there?

I spoke to Thomas Bjorn and he suggested Olazabal or Langer to get a feel and strategy for the course. I had Glen Murray, Sergio’s old caddie, for two weeks in South Africa and we spoke about The Masters and what you need to do to contend rather than just show up and he was brilliant.

I hit a little fade with the driver so I’ve always been a bit scared of Augusta but he says it’s perfect and to stick with it.

You had a couple of sponsors from your early days, will you be able to get them tickets?

I’d love to but it’s so difficult as you get a certain amount but your family and girlfriend are part of that. I’ve got quite a big team and I need them all there – there’s Liam and Rocky, my trainer and physio Rob Hobkinson, my putting coach Mike Kianski my putting coach and my mental coach Lee Crombleholme. Then there’s my parents and my girlfriend, Chelsie, and her parents. If there are any spare then I’d try and do that but for the first one I’ll probably have to go with my closest people then open it up a bit.

Who will you have as your caddie for the Par 3?

My girlfriend.

How many shots will you let her hit?

None (laughs), maybe one. She’ll be so nervous..

Is there any chance you could make a 48-year-old man very happy and let Rock caddie for you and let him hit the shot at the 9th?

Oh my god, they’d love it! He’d swing it so good.

And what are your plans before the big week itself?

We might have the week off before so we might head up there a bit earlier, I’ve spoken to Danny Willett and he might do the same so I could pick his brain a little bit. I played with him on the Saturday when he won in Dubai and it was so impressive the way he’s turned it around. His shot to 17 on the Sunday, with the wind howling into and off the left and to a back-right pin, was one of the shots of the season.