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Cape Town - Four-time European Tour winner Matt Wallace is determined to put on a good show at Golfclub München Eichenried as he prepares to defend the BMW International Open title he won 12 months ago.
The Englishman, who moved to the top of the Race to Dubai Rankings after the US Open at Pebble Beach, arrived in Munich in good spirits after finishing in a share of 12th place at the third Major Championship of the season.
""Last week was a really good week for me. 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 it was last year," said Wallace.
Wallace, now a career-high 24th on the Official World Golf Ranking, won the second of three titles in a memorable 2018 campaign at last year's BMW International Open, and the 29-year-old is looking forward to defending at a different venue as the tournament returns to Munich for the 24th time.
"I'm in good shape. I'm happy. I'm working hard on my game, and I can compete with the likes of Brooks (Koepka) if I can keep doing those one-percenters and get better."
Last year, at Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof in Cologne, he had to chase down Thorbjorn Olesen after the Dane carded the lowest round in this tournament's history, an 11 under par 61, to take the lead on nine under par.
After a birdie on the 16th hole Wallace would go on to sign for a ten-under par total, but faced a nervous wait as both home-favourite Kaymer and Finland's Mikko Korhonen were still to complete their rounds - the pair eventually finished on nine-under par, which saw Wallace win his third European Tour title.
After extensive renovations to the golf course for this year's tournament, former world No 1 and two-time Major Champion Kaymer is looking forward to a new challenge at the venue where he won his second European Tour title in 2008, becoming the first player from Germany to win this event 11 years ago.
