Matt Wallace’s Play-Off Victory Earns Valuable Ryder Cup Points

Matt Wallace climbed to the top of the 2025 European Ryder Cup rankings after a dramatic play-off victory at the 2024 Omega European Masters.

After defeating Spain’s Alfredo Garcia-Heredia in Crans Montana, Switzerland, the now five-time DP World Tour champion sits atop the Ryder Cup rankings with 287.50 points.

After narrowly missing out on making Thomas Bjørn ‘s triumphant 2018 Ryder Cup team, Wallace will do all he can to make his debut for Team Europe under Luke Donald at Bethpage, New York, USA, in September 2025.

Click here to see full rankings.

Wallace said: “My whole team have seen a huge difference in me emotionally and mentally when I’m able to focus on something bigger than myself.

“And that is the Ryder Cup.

“It’s given me an energy and a focus that I don’t think I’ve ever had before. I’m going to do everything I can now to be on that team.”

Having carded a final round of level par, Wallace found himself in a play-off with Garcia-Heredia at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club.

There was nothing to separate the pair tee to green on the first play-off hole, the 18^th at Crans-sur-Sierre, but when the Spaniard missed his lengthy birdie putt, Wallace remained calm to hole his eight-foot birdie putt with confidence and collect his first DP World Tour title in six years.

"Knackered, that was a hard day," an emotional Wallace added. "It wasn't easy, but I felt there was a score out there but couldn't get anything going.

"Good drives then mess it up, the ninth I messed that up to take an advantage into the back nine. I just kept pushing and pushing.

"It was bringing back memories of two years ago when I lost, I wasn't quite focused then but that's focus for me right there. I'm buzzing.

"I had the lead and I could have easily lost it a few times in the last couple of days, especially yesterday with how hard it was playing. But I stuck at it and that's me, and that's golf. For me, that's Matt Wallace golf right there."

The runner-up finish for Garcia-Heredia fires the Spaniard up 78 places on the European Points List and into third place with 166.80 points after the second week of qualifying.

A third-place finish for England’s Andew Johnston also moves him into the automatic qualification spots in fifth place with 112.09 points.

Betfred British Masters winner Niklas Nørgaard holds second place in the points race with 250.00 points, with Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard in fourth position with 112.72 points.

France’s Joeng weon Ko holds the final qualifying slot with 84.45 points.

The qualification process will end at the DP World Tour tournament which concludes on Sunday August 24, 2025.

Click here to find out more about the new European Ryder Cup qualification process.