Lindell improved his game on Saturday – but the result wasn’t quite up to scratch – “I should have managed a low score today”
Oliver Lindell carded another 71 (-1) this week and is now also on -1 overall. That is enough to tie for 36th place, as play was suspended due to a thunderstorm shortly after he finished his round. The forecast rain arrived in Belek during the night, but the morning tees managed to play before the rain resumed.
“I should have managed a low score today; then I’d still have had a chance of anything. We managed to get through the morning in good conditions, though, and then it started raining properly and the competition was suspended. Still, it was a good finish, so there’s still something to play for tomorrow.”
The Finn has not managed to capitalise effectively enough on what are, in principle, the easiest holes – the par-5s, for example – compared to the leaders. Among other things, he carded bogeys on both of the course’s two easiest holes (1 and 4) on Saturday. There was also a bit of bad luck involved. They were also the only bogeys of the round, as he managed three birdies.
“My tee shot on the first hole looked like it was going to sail nicely over the corner and land in the middle of the fairway, but it actually hit a tree and bounced into the woods at the foot of the tree. On the fourth, I pulled my tee shot and it ended up in the water. That was certainly a test, as I bogeyed the easiest holes on the front nine – a dreadful performance.”
“After that, there were opportunities on every hole, except the last one, when the ball spun off the top of the green again. On the front nine (holes 10–18), the ball often spun down from the ledge. There had been a lot of rain overnight, and the greens were soft. Still, my play was good today, apart from a few mishits,” Lindell summed up.
In a closely contested tournament, Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson (-8), who had carded a bogey-free round, took the lead before play was suspended. After 15 holes, Tapio Pulkkanen, like Lindell, is one under par for the round and level on par overall.