Lindell got his round off to a flying start with a superb eagle and is once again aiming for a top-10 finish in Italy
Oliver Lindell set out on Saturday’s round to regain the ground he had lost and climb back towards the top 10. With an overall score of -9, he is now just two strokes off the top ten. After three rounds, Lindell is tied for 17th place.
Saturday’s round got off to a flying start, with the player from Porvoo already three under par after just two holes. He has already managed to score no fewer than two eagles on the course’s first hole, and the combined length of his eagle putts has not even exceeded one metre. Today, his mini-driver – an iron 4 – found its way to within half a metre.
“I got off to a strong start today, until on the third hole my ball flew well over the green from the rough, leaving me with a ridiculous putt which, unfortunately, took me three putts to sink. After that, I hit some really good shots, but once again I couldn’t get the putts in. Fortunately, I finally got one in on the eighth hole.”
Lindell has been playing some top-class golf, but has unfortunately been at the bottom of the putting statistics. Even on a poor putting day, Lindell’s statistics don’t usually include any three-putt greens, but, just like yesterday, there were two today. Most of his bogeys this week have come from three-putts.
The Finn had a good chance of scoring four or five birdies between the turn and the back nine, but he failed to capitalise on all his opportunities.
“After two birdies at the end of the front-nine, I hit some good approaches to the next few holes, but I couldn’t sink the putts. On the 12th hole, I got myself into real trouble from the long rough, but I made up for that bogey on the next hole,” recalled Lindell.
Despite the eagle on the first hole, the highlight of the round was the successful par-5 on the final hole – which was almost 100 metres longer than the first – although the reward for this was not the maximum possible.
“On the 15th hole, after a long drive, I hit an incredible hybrid shot from the rough to within three metres, but the eagle putt went wide. After that, I once again found myself on a three-putt green, which really got to me. However, I managed to fight my way to good pars on holes 17 and 18, keeping my chances of a top-10 finish alive. Unfortunately, my tee shot on the 17th hole landed in a divot, so the area between the ball and the clubface was muddy, and the ball didn’t go anywhere.”
Joaquin Niemann, who is putting in an impressive performance, remains in the lead by a margin of three strokes with a score of -18.