Wallace trumps Johnston in play-off to win Indian Open

England’s Matt Wallace carded a four-under 68 to win the Indian Open golf yesterday after local favourite Shubhankar Sharma floundered in the final round to squander his joint overnight lead.Wallace pipped compatriot Andrew Johnston in a playoff after tying on 11-under 277 at the end of the regulation 72 holes at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon.“I feel amazing. It was a hard week and a hard golf course but you can’t be off your game,” said Wallace after bagging his second European Tour title.“I think I played great, I didn’t miss too many shots. It’s satisfying to master the course.”Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher, one shot behind overnight at the DLG Golf and Country Club, birdied two of the opening four but dropped four shots on the back nine and was level with Sharma at four under.Wallace, who won the Portugal Open last year in only his fourth European Tour event, had built a two-shot advantage after collecting five birdies in his opening 10 holes, including a chip-in at the 10th.But Johnston reduced the lead to one by sending a majestic approach over a dramatic rock-filled quarry to an elevated green within three feet.It was soon tied at the top when Wallace thinned his third shot from the edge of the green into a back bunker at the 16th for his first dropped shot of the day and did well to make a bogey five.At the closing par-five Wallace chose to play a three-wood over a vast expanse of water guarding the green but took three more to get down from the right of the putting surface for a round of 68.Back at the 18th for extra holes, after Johnston had laid up short of the lake, Wallace played a bold shot to the back of the green, which rolled 15 feet from the flag.Johnston’s birdie effort from the left edge of the green looked destined for the hole, but spun around it and stayed out, leaving Wallace two putts for the titleSharma, riding high after winning two European Tour titles in the last three months, slipped down the leaderboard to finish joint seventh after a three-over 75 in the last round.“I am disappointed obviously... these things happen and it’s not an easy course,” said the 21-year-old Sharma.“I was just trying to keep up with Matt (Wallace). He was playing so well. I made a bad swing on the fifth hole which put me out of contention.“I was trying to come back but I made another bad swing on the seventh. You can’t really drop too many shots on this course and I dropped nine.”Despite his lacklustre show, Sharma continues to lead the European Tour Race to Dubai and the Asian Order of Merit.Sharma’s next big-ticket event will be the US Masters in April where he will be rubbing shoulders with the game’s elite.Sharma was invited for the Masters earlier this month, becoming just the fourth Indian ever to make it to the top-flight tournament.Top scores277:Matt Wallace (69, 70, 70, 68); Andrew Johnston (72, 66, 73, 66)280:Sihwan Kim (70, 70, 72, 68)281:Pablo Larrazabal (67, 71, 74, 69); Matthias Schwab (71, 72, 68, 70)283:Emiliano Grillo (65, 68, 78, 72)284:Stephen Gallacher (72, 71, 67, 74); Shubhankar Sharma (73, 64, 72, 75)