For those players trying to force their way into the Ryder Cup picture ahead of Bethpage, The Open Championship would have felt like one of their final opportunities to send a message to either Keegan Bradley or Luke Donald.
The likes of Harris English and Matthew Fitzpatrick appear to have booked their tickets with their performances at Royal Portrush. Meanwhile, Chris Gotterup looks to be an outside contender to make the USA team following his hugely successful trip across the pond.
From the outside, there appears to be a lot more question marks over the American side than the Europeans. It would not be a surprise if Luke Donald took at least 11 of the players who won in Rome.
That would potentially come as a real blow to one player currently trying to catch his eye.
European player admits he’s gutted about how his Open Championship concluded ahead of the Ryder Cup
Matt Wallace began this week 12th in the European standings. The Englishman registered top 25 finishes at the PGA Championship and the US Open.
And it appeared that he was on course to secure his best ever finish at The Open Championship earlier this month, with the 35-year-old just one shot off the top 10 heading into the final round at Royal Portrush.
However, a 75 on Sunday in Northern Ireland saw Wallace tumble down the leaderboard and end up in a tie for 45th.
And speaking after his final round at the 3M Open, Wallace admitted that the Ryder Cup is all he can think of right now.
“Just a little bit, just a little bit. Always. It’s the thing that gets me up in the morning. Whether it’s a good day, bad day, it’s the thing that drives me on. So from last week I was gutted not to have finished off what would have been a good week. It’s the thing that got me up on a Monday to go and practice and motivated me to go play well this week,” he said.
Matt Wallace issues his verdict on his final round at the 3M Open
A 64 on Sunday at TPC Twin Cities looks set to hand Wallace his best finish on the PGA Tour this season. It is also likely to move him inside the top 100 in the FedEx Cup standings.
He did express some disappointment about not being able to make a birdie on the last to reach 21 under par for the week in Minneapolis. However, he insisted that he did all he could to challenge for the title this week.
“Yeah, good. More disappointed last week at The Open Sunday. Wish I would have flipped the two around, then I would have had a chance last week,” he said.
“But very happy with how I bounced back this week, and I’m playing well. So yeah, like you said, that last hole, I mean, it had to be everything of a four iron because the wind kind of switched more into us and I slightly missed it, went up the safer side and we were surprised it only just covered. Yeah, a little bit frustrating but that’s the best I got today.”
As things stand, Wallace is absolutely in the mix to realise his dream and make his Ryder Cup debut this year. But it will certainly help if he can force his way into the playoffs.
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