Matt Wallace boosts Ryder Cup hope after rocketing into Czech Masters contention
Matt Wallace
The Englishman carded an eagle and seven birdies in a second round of 63 to lie two shots off the lead.
Matt Wallace gave Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald another possible selection headache as he surged into contention for the D+D Real Czech Masters.
Wallace, who won his first PGA Tour title earlier this season, carded an eagle and seven birdies in a second round of 63 at Albatross Golf Resort to lie two shots off the lead held by Sweden's Alexander Bjork.
Playing alongside Donald, Bjork also gave his chances of making Europe's team for next month's contest in Rome an enormous boost as he added a 66 to his opening 65 for a halfway total of 13 under par.
The third member of the group, Scotland's Robert MacIntyre, currently occupies the final automatic qualifying place on the European Points list and a victory in Prague, coupled with none of his rivals finishing in the top five, would seal his place in the side.
However, the left-hander hit two balls into the water on the par-three 16th to run up a quadruple-bogey seven and signed for a 73 which left him eight shots off the pace.
Donald narrowly missed a birdie putt on the 18th which would have seen him make the halfway cut on four under, but will no doubt be keeping a close eye on the action over the weekend.
"I keep saying to myself that I'm going to be in contention this week and I'm going to take that on going forward," said Wallace, who was unfortunate to miss out on a wild card in 2018 after claiming a third win in his last 15 starts in front of captain Thomas Bjorn in the final qualifying event.
"Everything's OK. Don't panic, there's no reason to get frustrated. I was seven shots behind going into today after my round yesterday.
"Before I'd have gone 'Wow, I'm too far back', but it's fine. I'm playing good. That's what the best players do and I'm trying to learn from them."
