Lindell improved by seven strokes from yesterday – a magnificent eagle sealed a superb round
Oliver Lindell made the expected move at the DP World Tour event in Madrid, shooting a 67 (-4) in his second round. His total score of -1 means a jump of more than 50 places in the leaderboard, and the Porvoo native continues his impressive run of making the cut.
Friday's round, which started on the first tee, got off to a completely opposite, positive start compared to yesterday. Lindell managed to make a birdie on his second hole, sinking a longer putt than he was able to on the entire opening day. He made three birdies before his first bogey of the day. Yesterday's score was four bogeys before his first sub-par hole.
"It was a completely different performance today. I made a few basic mistakes during the round, but I didn't get myself into trouble around the green even once. That made my short game easier, and my old putter sank the putts quite well. I had good control over the length of my putts, as the bogeys on holes 9 and 13 hit the hole but didn't sink," said Lindell.
The four-stroke round under par did indeed include three bogeys, but a brilliant eagle on the 14th hole turned the tide after the bogey.
"After the tee shot, I was 206 metres from the flag, and I came close to sinking a high-arcing 5-iron. That left me with an eagle putt of about one metre with a back break, so a good short putt was required."
This eagle opportunity was also opened up by a long tee shot, as Lindell has been hitting the driver off the tee without exception. A little more risk has been taken with the shots, and this has been immediately reflected in the shot measurements. There have also been a few misses.
"A couple of slightly bigger misses also came off the tee. If I hit my basic fade shots, I know the ball won't go left, but in these cases I was looking for a longer shot. However, we're not taking any crazy risks here, as a place in the final competition is also at stake. In practice, it's a sure thing, but if I hadn't scored here, the first final stage in Abu Dhabi could still have been decisive for Dubai," said Lindell, who will skip the upcoming matches before the two-part final.
Lindell is in 42nd place on the leaderboard with the second round still underway. He is seven strokes behind the leader, Canada's Aaron Cockerill (-8), who has played two days in the same group. A commendable performance on the second day and an upward trend open up the battle for good positions over the weekend.
"The course is tough, and it's getting harder every day. If I can have a couple more good days and get into double digits, a top 10 finish could still be within reach."