Lindell in the running for the top tournament – his last chance to qualify for The Open – “I believe I have a chance of success and a place in The Open”
Oliver Lindell’s result last week was very mixed. Despite getting off to the most challenging start of his career, he fought his way back to a tie for 13th place at the Munich tournament, which secured him a place at this week’s Genesis Scottish Open. His place in the Rolex Series event, which is packed with world-class stars, was secured via the European Swing rankings, where Lindell was fourth – the highest-ranked player not yet to have secured a place in the tournament.
There are still three places up for grabs this week for the final major of the season, so Lindell still has a chance to qualify for The Open, just as he did last year. To do so, he must finish among the top three players who do not already have a place. Naturally, the vast majority of this week’s players already have such a qualification. Lindell reckons that a top-10 finish should be enough to secure a place.
“It left a bad taste in my mouth from last week. There’s nothing I can do about it now, though, and this week there’s still a good chance to secure that spot and rack up a lot of points for the rankings.”
This is the warm-up event for The Open, which begins next week, and also the second ‘golden’ tournament of the season. The Open pre-competition has attracted a stellar line-up to Europe, with the brightest stars from both the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour in attendance. Among those teeing off are all this season’s Major winners: Rory McIlroy, Aaron Rai and Wyndham Clark, as well as world number one Scottie Scheffler.
Despite the fact that the world’s best are in attendance, Lindell – who is in impressive form – is confident in his own chances of success. One could also imagine that players on the DP World Tour might have a slight edge over the PGA stars making the move across the Atlantic, partly because they are more familiar with the greens.
“The greens roll quite nicely here too. My form is very good, so I’m confident I can finish in the top 10 and, as a result, secure a place in the Open,” said Lindell confidently.
The Renaissance Club course is a par-70 in this competition, but its total length is close to 6,700 metres. This typical Scottish links course challenges players with strong winds and the typical challenges of links golf, such as tall grass surrounding the fairways and tricky links bunkers. Last year’s winning score was -15, set by Chris Gotterup. Among those who have claimed victory on this very course are McIlroy, Schauffele and the home crowd’s favourite, Robert MacIntyre.
Lindell will tee off on Thursday at 10.50 Finnish time, alongside Victor Perez of France and Haotong Li of China.