Nine in a row! Matt Wallace ties world record in epic birdie spree
The four-time European Tour winner produced a back-nine for the ages in the third round of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai
Matt Wallace produced one of the finest spells of golf ever seen on the DP World Tour – making nine birdies in a row on the back-9 to tie a world record.
The four-time tour winner produced a flawless inward run of 27 on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates, as he capped a bogey-free round of 60 that propelled him to the top of the leaderboard at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
In doing so, he tied the record for the most consecutive birdies in a PGA European Tour event and joined a very select band of players in golf history to make nine in a row.
Coming to the turn three under for the day, after picking up shots on the 2nd, 6th, and 8th holes, Wallace was simply unstoppable on the way home.
How did Matt Wallace produce his record-tying birdie spree?
Here is the 33-year-old’s stunning back-nine card: 3, 3, 3, 2, 4, 3, 3, 2, 4.
Matt Wallace birdies EVERY hole on the back nine to shoot a bogey-free 60 during the third round of DP World Tour Championship. Insane 🤯 pic.twitter.com/gZ6NG2sQcA
— National Club Golfer (@NCG_com) November 18, 2023
Wallace’s heroics matched the nine in a row – the most consecutive birdies by an individual in a professional golf tournament according to Guinness World Records – achieved by Australian James Nitties in first round of the Vic Open in 2019.
Bernd Wiesberger also shot nine in a row at the 2017 Maybank Championship, but it didn’t count as an official record as preferred lies were in play because of bad weather, while the same applies to Colin Montgomerie’s final round of the 2005 Indonesian Open.
On the PGA Tour, Mark Calcavecchia made nine consecutive birdies during the third round of the Canadian Open in 2009, and Kevin Chappell capped his superb 59 at The Greenbrier ten years later with nine straight.
Bronte Law also produced nine on the spin at Amelkis Golf Club in Morocco on her way to winning Ladies European Tour Q-School in 2018.
On the LPGA Tour, Beth Daniel was the first to achieve the feat – in the second round of the 1999 Philips Invitational – and she was matched by Amy Yang on the final day of the 2015 KEB Hana Bank Championship.
Nine-in-a-row have also been made by Omar Uresti, in 1994, at the Web.com Tour Shreveport Open, and India’s Rayhan Thomas during the Mena Tour’s Dubai Creek Open in 2017.
Wallace said: “What a day, an amazing day. 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.”
Breaking down his incredible round, Wallace added: “Holed a good one on 10. Missed a short one on 7 which stopped momentum I thought, and made one on 8 that picked it back up.
“Then I didn’t really miss a shot coming in. Hit it in tight two holes in a row, and then hit it on the par 5 in two and just missed the eagle putt there.
“[On] 15, left myself a perfect angle and yardage. Funny how it works out like that. 65 yards, hit it stiff, lovely number, 124 sand wedge. Hit it to a foot and a half.
“The shot of the day for me is probably 17. It was in between numbers and could have hit eight. Went for a soft seven to hold it into the pin there, and hit it to eight feet and rolled it in.
“Then the last – the miss is right obviously with the water on the left. But I had a good enough chance to try to feed it into that pin and hit it a bit too high and the wind got it, a really nice up-and-down. Been practising those high, soft bunker shots for a while now. That was really nice.”
Asked about narrowly missing out on the second 59 on the DP World Tour, a feat only achieved to date by Oliver Fisher, at the Portugal Masters in 2018, Wallace said: “Great opportunity to do it. I’ve done it at Moor Park on the West Course 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 for 59.”
Wallace, at 16-under, took a one-shot lead into the final round over Tommy Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland.
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Steve Carroll
A journalist for 25 years, Steve has been immersed in club golf for almost as long. A former club captain, he has passed the Level 3 Rules of Golf exam with distinction having attended the R&A's prestigious Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar.
Steve has officiated at a host of high-profile tournaments, including Open Regional Qualifying, PGA Fourball Championship, English Men's Senior Amateur, and the North of England Amateur Championship. In 2023, he made his international debut as part of the team that refereed England vs Switzerland U16 girls.
A part of NCG's Top 100s panel, Steve has a particular love of links golf and is frantically trying to restore his single-figure handicap. He currently floats at around 11.
Steve plays at Close House, in Newcastle, and York GC, where he is a member of the club's matches and competitions committee and referees the annual 36-hole scratch York Rose Bowl.
Having studied history at Newcastle University, he became a journalist having passed his NTCJ exams at Darlington College of Technology.
What's in Steve's bag: TaylorMade Stealth 2 driver, 3-wood, and hybrids; TaylorMade Stealth 2 irons; TaylorMade Hi-Toe, Ping ChipR, Sik Putter.
