Lindell finished sixth at the end of a day marked by three interruptions!
Oliver Lindell played his opening round at the Omega European Masters with 67 strokes (-3), a result that puts him in sixth place after the opening day. Half of the players were unable to start their round on Thursday, and some had their round interrupted when play was suspended for the opening day. However, the result was excellent after many interruptions.
"I was in really good form today. I couldn't get my putts in, so I could have had a really low round. The putts went really close on the back nine, but I ran out of steam a little as the grass started to grow on the greens during the day. Now, luckily, I have a day of training and rest ahead of me, and we will continue on Saturday," said Lindell.
The opening day was long and interrupted for Lindell, as he had predicted on Wednesday. The first interruption to the competition came immediately after the Finn had hit his first shot of the day in the middle of the opening fairway (hole 10). The second interruption came in the middle of the sixth hole (hole 15), when Lindell had hit the par 5 hole with two strokes to the edge of the green. This interruption lasted several hours, as fog completely obscured visibility.
However, Lindell returned from the long break in great form and scored birdies on holes 15-17. His putting was truly in top form, as the Porvoo native hit no fewer than 15 greens in regulation on his opening round. There was a third, shorter interruption later in the day, but Lindell finally finished his round about 12 hours after the original start time.
"It was all a bit of a mess, with a total of three interruptions and three warm-ups today. I've never had a day like this before. Before the longer interruption, I hit a couple of bad iron shots, one of which ended up in the water on the 14th hole. After that, I played really well, especially off the tee. The wind conditions were easy, though."
After the opening day, Richard Mansell and Ivan Cantero are in the lead with a score of -5. Tapio Pulkkanen played his opening round with a score of +1, while Sami Välimäki, like the afternoon starters, was unable to tee off at all. As things stand, the players who did not play on Thursday will play 36 holes on Friday, while those who played their opening round will have a day off. It has not yet been confirmed whether the competition will be played over three or four rounds.