In Austria, you play amidst picture-postcard Alpine scenery – “A magnificent course where the front and back nines are completely different from one another”
The DP World Tour has moved to the unique Alpine scenery of Kitzbühel, Austria, for this week, where a top-tier tournament is being held for the first time. It offers players breathtaking views on a course with distinctive features.
“A great course; the greens are in top condition, though the fairways are a bit muddy, so the preferred lies -rule is likely in force. There isn’t a course record here yet, and there probably never will be because of the relief rule. If you hit the fairway, the course is easy, but the rough is thick both on the fairway and around the greens. You don’t even need to miss into the shortside; the short game is difficult all around the green,” described Lindell.
The course is quite varied, with the front nine resembling mountain climbing in places, involving constant ups and downs. The back nine, by contrast, is more park-like, par-34 on level ground. The first and last par-5 holes are both the 10th.
“The front nine is completely different from the back nine. The back nine feels like a ‘normal’ course, whereas the front nine has huge changes in elevation. There will certainly be some carries to certain tees in the tournament, so you won’t have to hit your tee shots with fast heart rates.”
Lindell has had the chance to familiarise himself with the course – which is completely new to him and, in fact, to virtually all the players – through a full practice round and the front nine of Wednesday’s Pro-Am, which ran late into the mid-day. On Wednesday, heavy rain hit the course in the middle of the Pro-Am round and play was briefly suspended. The Finnish player, who hits the ball well, will need to focus on sharper wedge play and good putting to stand a chance of top success.
“My wedges have been drifting to the right recently, but my shots are absolutely top-notch at the moment. The plan is to try and hit the ball straighter this week, even though the spin on the ball is bound to become a bit more pronounced during the tournament. There’s plenty of room on the course and the ball flies well, especially in the afternoon. That’s going to make a big difference; in the morning, it’s difficult to hit the ball from the damp rough. We’re 700 metres above sea level and that shows in the yardage.”
The par-70 course is on the shorter side, and it’s likely that scoring will be relatively easy this week. There’s no certainty or history to go on regarding the tournament on this course, so we won’t know for sure until the weekend.
“The greens are fairly flat, but they have lots of subtle breaks that are hard to spot with the naked eye. There’s a lot of wedge play after the tee shot, so we’re likely to see low scores. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of birdies to look forward to one day, when you can get up and down with a wedge and sink at least a few putts.”
Lindell will tee off on Thursday at 9.10 am Finnish time. He will play the first two days alongside Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello and Scotland’s Calum Hill.