There were a host of challenges Matt Wallace had to contend with en route to winning his second European Tour title on Sunday, including a test laid down by an Open champion and former Ryder Cup captain.

The Moor Park professional secured the Hero Indian Open crown in dramatic fashion, beating Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston in a play-off after the pair had finished tied at 11-under-par in New Delhi.

The victory has seen the 27-year-old rise to 14th in the Race to Dubai standings and up to 94th on the Official World Golf Ranking, continuing the impressive rise up the golfing ladder of a player who won a historic six times on the Alps Tour in 2016 before rapidly graduating from the Challenge Tour by winning the co-sanctioned Open de Portugal last May to gain his European Tour card.

“This one feels really, really good,” Wallace reflected yesterday. “It was such a tough golf course and I’ve definitely improved, I played some amazing golf and to come through in the fashion that I did was really pleasing.”

The Pinner-based professional’s triumph was more impressive because his tournament did not start well last Thursday; a double bogey six at the 14th and a four at the par three 16th leaving him at three-over after eight holes having started his campaign from the 10th. Ten holes later though, and Wallace was to be nicely placed at three-under at the end of his first round.

“The first eight holes I was getting used to how hard the golf course was and I may be pushed a little too hard,” he explained. “I left a few putts out there early on and then made a silly club choice and hit it out of bounds and made a double bogey. So I was three-over through eight and I was like ‘wow, this is quite tough’. But I stuck at it and used my experience to date to say ‘we can get this back to level par’, and I played flawless golf from there on in to shoot three-under.”

Consecutive two-under-par rounds of 70 saw Wallace continue his positive progress to take him into Sunday’s last 18 holes in a share of the lead on seven-under as a conversation he had at the start of the week continued to help him.

That chat was with Darren Clarke and Wallace explained: “I’ve become good friends with him over the last few weeks from Oman [Open], we have a good bit of banter and he said to me I’m going to lose my head because it’s such a tough golf course. He knows I’ve struggled with my mental side over the years, so he was testing me to see how I did.

“I kept my head all week and I spoke to him after the tournament and he congratulated me and said ‘you kept your head then’. He knew what I needed to do and I really appreciate his comments and him testing me.”

Wallace certainly needed to keep his head on Sunday because he had to win the tournament for a second time, having at one stage opened up a three-shot advantage on the field as he fired a four-under closing round of 68.

Following a monster drive on the 18th – the first additional hole – and with his title rival laying up and seeing a birdie putt lip out, Wallace won the title with two putts following a glorious second shot.

Reliving that four iron into the green, Wallace said: “There’s obviously a lot of bad things around the green like bunkers and water, but we picked our goal out where we wanted the ball to finish and that’s all I had in my head. I didn’t think about the swing or the strike. I thought hit this in that goal and that’s it.

“I’ve put probably the best swing of the whole week on it and as soon as I hit it I saw it fly off, dead straight, I hit it well enough so I just looked away and said ‘be right, baby’, and the rest is history.”

Among those to congratulate him were Moor Park club-mate Callum Shinkwin, who tweeted: “To my stable mate @mattsjwallace what a 2 and a bit year turn around. Well done pal. See you @Moorparkgolf”.

Moor Park chief executive David Cook said: “Matt’s rise through the ranks has been incredibly impressive. I am proud to have such a talented golfer representing Moor Park Golf Club on the global stage.

“His sudden-death play-off win over Andrew Johnston made for excellent viewing and all of us at the club are very happy to see him secure his second European Tour victory. Well deserved.”

Wallace is managed by International Sports Management and managing director Andrew “Chubby” Chandler said: “From the day I met him, I realised Matt was a special talent. His ability to win is second to none and this is only the start for him.”

For the Hero Indian Open champion though, a second European Tour win is “massive”.

He added: “It proves the first one wasn’t a fluke. To be a multiple European Tour winner in my second year is pretty cool. Rocky (Robert Rock), my coach, he had to wait 11 years for the second one and I’ve done it in my second year.

“It’s kind of surreal but it’s what I’ve worked really hard for and I love being in that situation and to get a chance to win.”