Lindell impresses with a bogey-free round of 66 and a huge jump up the leaderboard – "The result came really easily."
Oliver Lindell had a brilliant second day at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and significantly improved his position in the competition. Starting Friday morning just above the cut line, Lindell picked up where he left off yesterday when he got to start his round from the back nine, which had gone well yesterday.
The Porvoo native improved his swing on holes 10-18, scoring four birdies. He finished the round cleanly, and after seven pars in a row, he ended with a birdie-birdie finish for a total score of 66 (-6). The combined score of -8 was just enough to secure a place in the top ten at T9. Lindell had already stated on Thursday that he was very close to a situation where everything would fall into place. This claim was not just hot air.
“The result came really easily today, it didn’t take any miracles. I was more accurate off the tee and only missed one short putt when three putts were marked on the first fairway. Instead, I sank some nice three-metre putts today. I missed shots in easy spots and sank the putts I was supposed to. The goal is to always play like this,” said Lindell with satisfaction.
Lindell hit the fairways better than yesterday and did not get himself into trouble at any point, unlike in the opening round. He hit enough fairways, although not an outstanding number – nine in total. He hit 13 out of 18 greens, but the most important thing was that he did not hit himself into trouble, as he did last week, for example, on the short side of the flag.
The soft-handed Lindell managed to clear practically all spots around the green to within ‘gimmie’ distance. On the opening fairway, he didn’t even need to take his putter out of his bag.
“The day started off well with a 20-metre chip straight into the cup. After that, my short game was really strong, which was helped by the easy spots I hit myself into. The wind was also strong today, which explains the generally weaker results.”
Lindell is one of the biggest climbers on the leaderboard, having jumped 50 places while some players are still on the course. His round score is currently the second best on Friday. This will certainly give him a good starting position for the weekend.
It is noteworthy that the Royal Johannesburg course has been played today with a lower average score than yesterday. The difference between the day’s best round and the tournament leader Jayden Schaper (-13) is five strokes.