Lindell: “A huge birdie on the 17th hole effectively secured my place in the next round”
Oliver Lindell carded a 73 (+1) in the second round of the Turkish Airlines Open. That is two strokes worse than his opening round, and his overall score of par looks just enough to make the cut in joint 55th place. The Finn’s impressive run of making the cut for the weekend is therefore set to continue, barring any miracles from the afternoon starters.
The round got off to a flying start with a birdie on the first hole, but came to a sudden halt on the very next hole.
“It was a bit of a mixed bag today – plenty of good shots, but a few poor ones too. I got off to a dreadful start: I made a good birdie on the first, but on the second I hit a six-iron that drifted right into the water, resulting in a double bogey. On the third hole, I missed a one-metre birdie putt, and I couldn’t manage an up-and-down birdie from the front foregreen on the fourth either,” Lindell recounted his start.
The player from Porvoo managed to score two more birdies on the front nine and one on the back nine, which seems to have secured his place in the next round.
“Luckily, on the fifth hole I managed to hit a seven-iron to within a metre, and that woke me up. The back nine was tough; on the 14th hole I had a similar opportunity to the one on the fourth, but I didn’t sink that one either. The birdie on the 17th was a big one – it even looked going in with the wedge shot. On the final hole, we checked the scores and it was just enough to be sure that I knew a par would be enough for the weekend. Of course, anything is possible, but by all accounts this should be enough for the weekend,” said Lindell after the round.
Known as a strong short-game player, Lindell has found himself in unexpected difficulties in Turkey, where the course surface varies drastically in places.
“Playing close to the pin is tricky here, as you don’t know whether the ground is soft or hard. Often the surface looks soft, but in reality it’s hard.”
The leaders haven’t pulled too far ahead yet, with Italy’s Gregorio De Leo taking the lead on -7. The other Finn in this week’s field, Tapio Pulkkanen, is fighting hard to make the cut. Like Lindell, he started his round with a birdie and is on +1 after two holes.