Lindell in good form competes in Bahrain this week – "A course with good scoring potential"
The DP World Tour’s Middle East tour continues from Dubai to Bahrain this week. Finnish player Oliver Lindell has had a strong two weeks of high-level competition in Dubai. He finished T15 and T26, the latter coming in the first Rolex Series event of the season.
The starting point for the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship, which begins on Thursday, is excellent for the Porvoo native, and preparations have gone well in the midst of a long competition season. Despite last week’s success, the competition left a bit of a bad taste in the mouth, but revenge will come quickly.
“There haven’t been many days off in these four weeks, as there have been games every weekend. Preparations have gone smoothly, and the first competition is coming up, where the course is familiar from last season. Training days go well when the places are familiar. I really like these competition series, especially since last week left me wanting more.”
Last season, the Bahrain tournament was one of the few in which Lindell failed to qualify for the next round. The opening day went splendidly, with a bogey-free round resulting in a score of -4, but a score of 79 on the second day knocked the Finn out of the competition.
The Bahrain course does not offer the same challenges with tight tees as last week, although there are a few more challenging fairways at the end. The course is significantly shorter than last week. The biggest challenges come in the form of the multi-level greens. Lindell’s caddie, Emil Markus, has been busy jotting down notes in his notebook about the spots where it’s best not to miss a shot this week.
“The second round of last year’s competition was certainly strange. The greens have many different levels, and the ball rolls a long way if you don’t manage to hit the right shelf. When the wind is calm, the course is really easy to score on. The wind direction determines which fairways are the most difficult. There are a few tighter openings at the end of the back nine. Missed openings usually end up here in the desert, as there are hardly any trees on the course. Today I took part in Pro-Ami with a great group of people in a relaxed atmosphere,” said Lindell.
This week, Lindell is definitely one of the top players in the competition, and bookmakers even rank him as the tenth favourite to win the competition. The list of participants no longer includes the brightest superstars from last week, several of whom were seen in the Dubai competition.
Lindell will start his opening round at 6 a.m. Finnish time, together with Joe Dean from England and David Ravetto from France.