Matt Wallace is high up the leaderboard at the Wyndham Championship after the first round on Thursday, but that doesn’t mean he’s a fan of the tournament’s venue in Greensboro, N.C.
After shooting a 3-under-par 67 to sit in a tie for 16th, the 33-year-old Englishman unloaded regarding Sedgefield Country Club.
“I don’t like this golf course,” he said. “The runoffs are just absolutely ridiculous and … it’s just not fun to play. Hit a shot out of the rough on the last (hole) and it landed on the front and runs backwards 40 yards. Like, it’s just not great.
“Yeah, I shouldn’t be in the rough, but it’s difficult to hit the fairway all the time, especially like this. …
“This is my third time playing (here). Every single time, like, yeah, 83 percent of the winners hit green in regulations pretty much, so a lot of green in regulations is key, but the penalty for miss — even on the par 3 down the hill, 12, you can’t go long because you can putt it off the green, so you play the smart play and you play it towards the front, the middle and, from 220 yards, I mean, it’s just — it’s too severe, so they need to do something about it.”
Wallace added, “I think the most important person here this week with me is my psychologist and we’re trying to enjoy the tournament rather than what it produces. So great tournament, great sponsor. Just for me, I just don’t like — if I don’t have to come here, I wouldn’t, but I kind of need to.”
The reason Wallace was compelled to enter the Wyndham Championship is that it’s the final event before the FedEx Cup playoffs start next week with the top 70 players in the point standings competing. Wallace began the week at No. 80. After round one, he is currently projected to be at No. 74.
Asked if he is focusing on the season standings rather than the event’s leaderboard, Wallace replied, “No. I’m here to win a golf tournament. Yeah, hopefully I can turn that tune around and at the end of the week I’ll tell you I absolutely love this golf course and thanks for having me and I’ll be back again next year.”
Wallace earned his first career PGA Tour win at the Corales Puntacana Championship in March. He has four career wins on the European tour, one in 2017 and three in 2018. Wallace has just one career top-10 finish in a major, a tie for third in the 2019 PGA Championship.
–Field Level Media