Lindell continued his superb form and is just one stroke behind the leaders!
Oliver Lindell picked up in Italy where he left off in his last competition in Amsterdam. The Porvoo native maintained his top form during the Midsummer break, which was preceded by a career-best second place. The tournament in Turin got off to a start with a score of 66 (-5), which is enough for a tie for fifth place ahead of the afternoon rounds.
The round, which got underway on the 10th hole, began with seven par scores, but after that the birdie floodgates opened. First came two birdies in quick succession, followed by an eagle on the first hole of the back nine. It wouldn’t have been far-fetched to expect an eagle on the 18th and an albatross on the 1st.
“I actually hit back-to-back approach shots on holes 18 and 1 that both came within a hair’s breadth of the hole. The result was good, considering I’d only sunk my first putt of over half a metre on the 16th hole of the day (hole 7). I’d simply been hitting the ball so well up to that point. Towards the end, though, I managed two long putts, which left me feeling really good. It’s great to be keeping up with the leaders right from the start,” Lindell summed up.
The Finn’s scorecard featured four birdies and an eagle, along with just one bogey. Even that was the result of a three-putt. He hit 16 greens in regulation, one of which was also within putting range on the fore-green. Nor did he make any major mistakes off the tee. His putting was therefore the one area that still left room for improvement.
“It was a solid round; I didn’t really get that many top-class chances, but there were good opportunities to sink putts throughout. I had two three-putt greens, even though the result was this good. There’s a lot of tee-shot driving here. My first two tee shots actually went too far, which meant I ended up off the fairway; otherwise, they were good tee shots today.”
A good opening round bodes well, as Lindell is currently in contention for places at both the Scottish Open and the season’s final major – The Open.
After the first round, the Finnish player is just one stroke off the four players tied for the lead. He will tee off for the second round on Friday at 13.55 Finnish time.