Lindell found good form in his ball striking – double bogey damaged the score
Oliver Lindell managed to make a nice amount of birdie’s on Saturday in South Africa, but a couple of weaker hole results ate his red marks in the scorecard at the same pace. He hoped for challenging weather similar to Thursday for the third day, which would enable him to climb back into The Open qualifying positions with a good round.
The Finnish player clearly hit the ball best this week, but his reward was only a par result from Saturday’s round. His overall result of -3 currently puts him in 29th place.
“I played really well today, only missing three fairways in strong winds. The wind made it more challenging to judge my approach shots. I managed to get closer to the flag in the early rounds, but the strong wind made it a little difficult. I got some good positions today, but I couldn’t quite get a good enough grip on the slow greens.”
The round, which started brilliantly with two birdies, quickly took a turn for the worse when a rare double bogey was recorded on the fourth hole, which also involved some bad luck. This week’s stage has not received much praise from the Finnish player or the caddie, who has seen numerous courses. The difference between the top courses in the Middle East at the beginning of the year is clearly significant.
“I don’t want to dwell on it too much, but this week’s setup has been somewhat unsuccessful. Luck plays a huge role. Three times today, I hit the ball slightly off the green and couldn’t even get it onto the green from those spots. For example, on the fourth fairway, I was only five metres away from the green, but there was no way to get it onto the green. I got one metre forward from that spot. The ball gets stuck under the grass among the roots on a muddy surface, which is impossible to play, even if you hit it full,” Lindell lamented.
South Africa’s Casey Jarvis has taken the lead in the competition with a score of -11.