Lindell is going through a challenging phase with his putter – "The mood is gloomy during the round."
Oliver Lindell did not get the change he wanted in his putting game in the opening round of the DP World Tour Championship. He played a 72, which is par for the course. That is enough to share 36th place. However, these are not the kinds of rankings that satisfy him in the finals.
The challenges he faced on the greens in Abu Dhabi continued, and the Finn was unable to make the most of his excellent shot play on Thursday. Lindell managed a "modest" 12 greens in regulation on paper – and even the three greens he missed opened up putting opportunities from the edge of the green.
"The ingredients were there for another top round today, but the greens are tough. This is a really challenging stretch right now, as it constantly feels like the ball isn't going in when I putt. There were a lot of good spots on the front nine, but I missed too many short putts. On the back nine, my approaches were too long. There's nothing else to do but try something different tomorrow," Lindell said thoughtfully.
After the round, the Finn headed straight to the practice area with his putter and spent well over an hour there. The things he discovered during practice have not yet translated to the course for an entire round. The situation is understandably frustrating when you find yourself on the wrong side of the leaderboard with top-5 level ball striking and poor putting. In golf, other difficulties can often be compensated for in other areas, but missed putts cannot be made up for.
"The mood has been pretty gloomy during rounds lately. It's frustrating when you hit a couple of great shots and then miss a putt from a good position. When that happens constantly, it starts to get on your nerves."
Lindell highlighted the par 5s at Jumeirah Golf as potential opportunities. He was unable to take advantage of the relatively easy par 5 holes (except for the 18th) as he would have liked today. The starting point for improving his score tomorrow would be at least a few birdies on these holes.
"It doesn't take much to improve by a few strokes. Today, I hit a couple of par fives with a lay-up, and the ones I went for with two shots ended up in the worst possible place, even though the shots were good. A bad shot would have ended up in a better place," said Lindell, reflecting on the harsh nature of the game.
The leader of the competition is Michael Kim from the United States, who played a bogey-free round with a score of -8.
Lindell will start improving his position on Friday at 7:30 a.m. Finnish time. His playing partner will be Johannes Veerman from the United States, whom he also knows from Abu Dhabi.