Lindell has withdrawn from the Open qualifiers and is focusing fully on the competition in Germany
There has been a last-minute change to Oliver Lindell’s plans, and he is currently preparing for the DP World Tour event starting on Thursday in Munich. The original plan was to travel to Scotland for the final qualifying round of The Open. The Finn decided at the last minute to skip the qualifiers and focus fully on the tournament in Germany, where he has a very good chance of securing a place in The Open.
Lindell is currently ninth in the Race to Dubai rankings. When players who have already secured a place in the Open are excluded, the Porvoo native is fourth on the list, with the top five securing a place in the season’s final major. In the best-case scenario, even missing the cut at the weekend could secure him a place, and with a solid performance, that is a likely outcome.
“It felt like the right decision at this stage; I’m in really good spirits ahead of this week’s important tournament. My chances of qualifying for the Open are looking good based on my ranking, and I’ve been able to prepare well for this tournament week. Contrary to expectations, we managed to play another half-round in really good conditions today.”
Lindell was last knocked out of the knockout stages in that very tournament in Germany a year ago. Since then, his form has been the most consistent on the entire tour. On that occasion, he travelled to the tournament straight from the Open qualifiers without having familiarised himself with the course, and the result was not to his liking. Preparations this week have gone well, with Wednesday’s Pro-Am also taking place in good weather. The event was shortened to nine holes due to heavy rain, which cleared just in time.
The biggest challenge last year was trying to get a feel for how the ball flies 500 metres above sea level without any preparation. At the time, his chances of making the cut were largely dashed by the difficulties he faced with the shot lengths on the opening day. Now the situation is different.
“The high altitude was the biggest challenge last year. We’ve now travelled here from Italy, where the ball also flew a long way, and we’re better prepared for the situation,” said Lindell.
Lindell will tee off in the early groups on Thursday at 14.25 Finnish time. His playing partners will be Abraham Ancer, who has won titles on both the PGA Tour and LIV, and Denmark’s Niklas Norgaard.