Lindell leaves with the best world ranking of his career – "One of last year's favourite courses"
Oliver Lindell, who has had a fantastic start to the 2026 season and climbed to 28th place in the Race to Dubai rankings, will be competing again this week in the Qatar Masters. The Finn, who has risen to his highest world ranking (153) in his career, will conclude his four-week tournament run at one of his favourite courses on the tour in the tournament starting on Thursday.
The return to the pitch has gone well so far this week, following the pattern we have become accustomed to this season.
“This season, I have participated in Pro-Am every week before the competition. I really enjoy it when I get to play on the course on Wednesday when it is in full competition mode. On Monday, we played five holes from the front nine and on Tuesday from the back nine. This morning’s Pro-Am, which started at 6:45 a.m., was good preparation for tomorrow’s morning round, which starts at around the same time.”
Lindell is by no means the only Finnish player who fondly remembers the Qatar tournament and likes the course design. Many will surely remember Sami Välimäki celebrating his victory in Doha in 2023, or Mikko Ilonen’s bitter defeat in the play-off against Sergio Garcia in 2014. But what is it that makes the Doha course so appealing to Finns – at least according to Lindell?
“It’s definitely one of my favourite courses from last year. The course is well maintained, and the greens are firm compared to previous tournaments. Raffi is a real ‘mishmash’, meaning that in some places it may be okay to lie down, but generally there are some really weak spots, so you have to hit the fairways. The greens here are large, so with plenty of greens in regulation, we’re sure to have another good week,” says Lindell.
Qatar will also return to the Bermuda grass variety, unlike in previous competitions. No particular challenges are expected in terms of conditions. Lindell predicts that the wind direction will change around midday each day, but will remain fairly calm.
The Porvoo native will tee off for his opening round on Thursday at cockcrow, which is 5:40 a.m. in Finland. He will be playing alongside Alex Fitzpatrick of England and Jeff Winther of Denmark.