Excellent short game kept Lindell's score moderate in the opening round
Oliver Lindell's opening round at the Italian Open was fairly steady, with no particular successes or major mistakes. The first 11 holes of the round, which started from the back nine, brought 11 pars to the card, until the only birdie of the day came on the third hole of the course after a five-metre putt. However, the man from Porvoo had to fight hard with good short game saves to achieve the day's best par score.
Many of the day's par scores were achieved with a single putt, so the days spent on the putting green have not been wasted. His shots did not seem to be as strong as usual today, and he had one badly misplaced iron shot on the back nine, which resulted in a double bogey and a round score of one over par (71). Lindell agreed with these observations.
"My iron shots were a bit all over the place today. The iron shot that led to the double bogey veered so far to the left that I can't even remember hitting a shot like that before. My short game and putting were good today, even though I missed a birdie putt of just over a metre on the 8th hole. However, it was a great shot with a 3-iron on a tight hole after a disastrous shot on the previous par 3 hole, even though I didn't get the reward," Lindell said.
The eighth hole – a par 3 hole over 200 metres – was the most challenging hole on the course today.
Although the Finn's ranking dropped to T82, he is only two strokes away from the top 40. The field is very even, and tomorrow's morning start will also make it easier to get off to a good start for the next round. The course was not the easiest to play today, and the overall level of performance was surprisingly high. The sunshine and heat have also taken their toll on the greens, making it difficult to approach the greens.
"The course was challenging, and it was difficult to get close to the flags from the fairway as the greens were quite badly burnt. Fortunately, they will be watered in the evening, so tomorrow morning's play will be easier, especially for approach shots. I hit my tee shots well today with my driver, and my short game was positive."
The other Finnish player in the competition, Tapio Pulkkanen, finished his round two strokes better than Lindell and got off to a good start in the competition (T39/-1). The competition is led by England's Dan Bradbury (-6), who started his round with four consecutive birdies.