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Wallace working hard to win in Munich
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Wallace working hard to win in Munich

Defending champion Matt Wallace is determined to get back in the winner's circle but admitted he would not change how his season has panned out so far.

Matt Wallace

The Englishman claimed three victories on the European Tour last season, with the second of those coming at Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof in the BMW International Open.

The event returns to its spiritual home of Golfclub München Eichenried this week and Wallace is satisfied with his results in 2019.

He finished second at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in January before a tied second place and tied third at the Betfred British Masters and US PGA Championship respectively last month.

The 29-year-old also made his Masters Tournament debut this year and made the cut at the U.S. Open Championship for the first time in three attempts as he strives to produce improved performances in the big events, starting in Munich.

Matt Wallace

"Someone asked me the other day, would I change the results in Majors for a win," Wallace said.

"I don't think I would because I've tried to improve my results in Majors. My whole process is I want to win big tournaments now.

"I want to win the biggest tournaments possible. Obviously I want to win every tournament I play in but like stepping stones through your career.

"I didn't make the U.S. Open cut the last two years, and then to finish tied 12th this year, is a massive improvement for me. So I'm taking steps in the right direction and hopefully I can knock off more wins.

"We're halfway through the season now and getting into the back end of the season. We've got a lot of tournaments and big tournaments where I feel like if I can play well, I can hopefully get another trophy."

Wallace's consistency had seen him move into contention at the top of the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex before his tied 12th finish at Pebble Beach Golf Links helped him leapfrog American Kevin Kisner into pole position.

And that was not the only thing that got the Englishman smiling.

"Last week was a really good week for me," Wallace said. "I'm now 24th, the highest place I've ever been in the world as well.

"Coming here as defending champion, I want to put on a good show, play hard and play as well as I can. It's a great field this year, as well as it was last year. I think it's even better."

Last year Wallace spent much of the final day looking up the leaderboard at Thorbjørn Olesen, who signed for a record-breaking 61 to open up a three-shot lead before the final group had even teed off.

However, five birdies in seven holes from the turn saw Wallace move one clear of the Dane at ten under par, with final group pairing of home favourite Martin Kaymer and Finn Mikko Korhonen unable to catch him.

"It was a great event for me," he added. "I've watched back some highlights and I wasn't really featured at all until the last day when I made a run at it. Thorbjørn played fantastic to post a (low) number.

"I remember saying to my caddie Dave (McNeilly) that we had to get to ten under and that was it, really. I went really hard for that and managed to get to ten under, which I thought was going to be the winning score and it was in the end.

"My reaction said it all. Waiting on the range there, expecting another play-off like in India and Denmark. It was nice to get it done in full-time and pick up another trophy."

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