Lindell enters the competition with his best career ranking and a major spot in his pocket.
The starting point for Oliver Lindell at the BMW International Open in Munich, which begins on Thursday, could hardly be better. The last few days have been full of success, with his best career finish on the DP World Tour (T10) in his previous tournament, and yesterday Lindell, who started his career in Virki, secured his place in The Open – the first major tournament of his career. The spot opened up in his first season playing on the main tour, which is a remarkable achievement.
Both sleep and familiarisation with the course have been limited for Lindell, as his flight from England to Germany for the Open qualifiers departed at seven this morning.
"I'm feeling good about the competition, full of confidence. It's been a tough set after the competition in Italy, and I haven't had much sleep. Today we had time to walk through the course and do a short training set. Now it's time to rest, but luckily the competition starts in the afternoon tomorrow, so I'll have time to practise in the morning," said Lindell.
This is the first time the Porvoo native has entered a competition without having had any actual practice rounds. However, his recent form has been impressive, so starting the competition "cold" is unlikely to cause any major problems, as he had time to walk through the course with his caddie, Emil Markus.
"I'm not familiar with the course at all. It's very park-like, with clear features. My goal for the opening round is to not play myself out of the game, so I'll be playing it safe tomorrow."
Lindell has tried to keep his thoughts focused on the upcoming tournament, despite yesterday's achievement. Qualifying did not really surprise Lindell, although it may be difficult to comprehend a major spot, especially since it came in his DPWT debut season.
"I've received quite a few messages from all directions over the last 24 hours. I haven't really thought about it that much myself. My feeling going into the final qualifying round was that I was one of the best players on the course and that I had to secure my place. I've tried to stay focused on this tournament now that I've booked my flight to Northern Ireland, and the biggest stress is off my shoulders."
"All I can say is that everything that has happened during the year has come quickly. I don't feel that my game is very different from a year ago on the Challenge Tour, and now we're heading for the majors," said Lindell, somewhat bewildered.
Lindell will once again be playing in a Nordic-flavoured group, alongside Denmark's Jakob Skov Olsen and his "teammate" Jens Dantorp from Sweden. Along with Lindell, Dantorp is one of the few Cobra players on the DP World Tour. The trio will tee off on Thursday at 2:10 p.m. Finnish time from the 10th tee.