In China, they play two rounds using golf buggies – Lindell: “It’s an unusual concept; I’ve never come across it before”
Oliver Lindell is taking part in this week’s DP World Tour event on the Chinese island of Hainan. Introduced last year, the main tour event in Hainan has undergone a major change since last year, with two courses now in play and the first rounds being played in a Pro-Am style with an amateur, and, even more unusually, using golf buggies.
“The first two days will be played in Pro-Am style, and everyone has to use a golf cart. It’s an unusual concept; I’ve never come across anything like it before. There’s nothing to complain about when it comes to trying something new, though – at the weekend, the tournament will culminate on the main course as usual, without any carts.”
On the main course, Lindell refers to the Blackstone Course, which is already familiar from last year. The Blackstone Course is the more challenging of the week’s courses, particularly in terms of length. It is one of the longest courses on the tour, featuring a gruelling 623-metre par-5 hole as well as several par-4s of nearly 500 metres.
“The main course is familiar from last year, and it’s clearly more challenging and longer. The greens here are soft and slow, with plenty of grain. Our preparations have gone well; we went out early on Tuesday and Wednesday to play both courses in their entirety,” said Lindell.
Lindell has managed to adjust to the time difference by getting up early in the morning, as the time zone in China is six hours ahead of Finnish winter time. The Finn will tee off on Thursday at 1.42 am Finnish time on the new Vintage Course, alongside Spain’s Jorge Campillo.
“Thursday’s course is clearly the easier of the two, and the feeling is that we’ll have to be posting a low score right from the start. The course is shorter, but also significantly wider. With good ball striking, you’ll do well here. Slow greens with a strong grain won’t be a problem, as long as you can get close enough to putt for birdies.”
“It’s difficult here to hole 10-metre putts like we did in previous weeks. There’s plenty of space on the course, but if you don’t hit the fairway, you’ll find yourself in the rough or dealing with Hainan’s peculiarities – namely, the lava rocks. The ball should stay in play well, provided you don’t hit wildly crooked shots,” Lindell summed up.
The Porvoo-based player, who has made a brilliant start to the season, is among the top contenders in the Race to Dubai rankings this week. Lindell is ranked 24th ahead of this week’s tournament, and more than half of the players ahead of him are not competing in the event in China.