Lindell finishes with a superb birdie-birdie – "The best up & down of my career on the final hole"
Oliver Lindell’s final round got off to a slow start, which meant that his sprint towards the top of the leaderboard fell short. Today’s problems were on the front nine, as has been the case this week, especially on the par 3 holes in strong gusty winds. Takaysi started with a score of +2, but the Porvoo player fought his way back to -1 with three birdies, just as he did yesterday.
A positive birdie-birdie finish lifted the mood a little, even though the story was largely the same as yesterday. The overall result of -5 means a place in T32. Lindell was the most accurate player off the tee throughout Saturday’s competition, and his strong hitting continued on Sunday.
“Same story as yesterday and so many times recently. A couple of tee shots ended up in the water hazard, but otherwise we were repeatedly in the middle of the fairway. The positions were the same as yesterday, but the front nine was frustrating again. The putts didn’t go in until the last two holes, when I sank two longer putts from a tap-in position, 4.5 metres and the last one from two metres. At least I was left with a good feeling at the end, having got a couple of birdies on the card.”
Tap-in putts are when a player is less than half a metre from the hole and players often tap their short putts at a fast pace while leaning on their other foot. Lindell did not overthink his putts, which yielded results.
On his final hole, the Finn showed off his incredible hand-eye coordination and soft hands.
“The up & down performance on the last fairway was probably the finest of my career. My second shot ended up just on the grass side, about 15 metres from the flag, in an almost impossible spot. I couldn’t see the ball from the angle I had to hit it from, and I was sure I wouldn’t be able to get it anywhere. I just had to estimate where the ball was and trust that I would hit it. I hit it a couple of metres, and the putt went in. I missed a lot of putts today, and throughout the week on the course,” said Lindell.
After three weeks of competition, Lindell will head to Finland for a well-deserved Christmas holiday. During this time, he will take his mind off golf for a while, with the aim of developing a new approach to putting after Christmas.
“It was a tough three weeks, but now the season has started and I can take a break. Hopefully, by some miracle, I’ll be able to compete in the first Rolex tournament of the season – the Dubai Invitational. We’ve tried all kinds of fixes to my putting stance, but I’m starting to feel like they’re not going to work at the moment. I’ll have to come up with a new vision during the break.”
South Africa’s 24-year-old Jayden Schaper has made a historic start to the season. A magnificent hole-out eagle on the replay hole meant a second consecutive victory with a score of -22. The start of the season has been devastating, with three competitions resulting in T2, 1 and 1 finishes.