Lindell has been joined by Välimäki for the final event of the competition series in Amsterdam
Oliver Lindell is set to compete in his sixth race in seven weeks this week. This gruelling run of races will come to an end this weekend at The International in Amsterdam.
A tournament week doesn’t just mean the four days of competition that have been part of Lindell’s schedule every time this season – it also includes a Pro-Am event every other week, as well as two days of practice. A full seven days, week in, week out, takes its toll on any player, but Lindell is ready for one more push before his well-deserved Midsummer break.
The arrival of another Finn, Sami Välimäki, at the Dutch tournament has added extra excitement to the week in Amsterdam. Välimäki has secured his playing rights on the PGA Tour, but European players in particular are keen to retain their DPWT membership, which requires a certain number of starts per season.
“On Tuesday, I was supposed to play nine holes with Sami, but we only managed to play four before the game was interrupted by a thunderstorm. Today, hopefully, we’ll be able to play the full 18-hole Pro-Am without any problems. Challenging conditions with wind and rain are forecast, just like last year, but that’s fine and is part and parcel of this course,” said Lindell moments before his Pro-Am tee-off on Wednesday afternoon.
The images from last year’s Amsterdam tournament – which was at times even stormy – have surely stuck in many people’s minds. Lindell performed well in those challenging conditions during his debut season, apart from Saturday’s round of 82 strokes. That dropped the Finn well off the pace at the top of the leaderboard during what had otherwise been a good week.
Having learnt from last year’s experience, the aim this year is to keep the ball exceptionally low due to the strong winds and the links grass lurking at the edges of the fairways. The conditions are the complete opposite of last week, which was played at high altitude in the Austrian Alps.
“The most important thing is to be on form from the tee to the green, so that you can at least manage to shoot par as easily as possible. The first thing that springs to mind is that The International is an inland links course, where we’re in for some tough conditions once again.”
In the ‘strokes gained’ statistics, Lindell was, unusually, in negative territory from tee to green last week in Austria, which suggests his ball-striking wasn’t quite up to its usual standard. In contrast, a year ago in Amsterdam he was among the leaders in ball striking. If history repeats itself this year, the Porvoo native, who has found his putting touch, is likely to be in strong form again this week.
Lindell will tee off on Thursday at 9.50 am Finnish time. He will be playing in the same group as Sean Crocker of the United States and Antoine Rozner of France.