Lindell missed eight greens in 72 holes – his putting statistics, on the other hand, were grim to behold.
Oliver Lindell continued with the pattern that has become familiar this week. 16/18 greens in regulation again led to only two birdies, and in addition, one bogey on the card meant a score of -1 on Sunday. The total score of -11 earned him a T41 finish at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
Surviving Abu Dhabi and next week's Dubai finals is a great achievement for a tour debutant, but it does not warm the hearts of fierce competitors at the moment. Lindell missed eight greens during the entire four-round competition and was clearly one of the best ball strikers in the tournament. His putts, on the other hand, failed to find the lines or repeatedly fell short, and in this statistic, the Porvoo native was the weakest of the bunch.
"I hit the ball really well again today, but the distances weren't quite right, so I didn't get as many good birdie opportunities as I did yesterday. In return, I missed all my putts from good positions," said Lindell.
Fortunately, the transition to the Dubai competition will happen quickly, immediately after the competition. Thoughts have already turned to the next competition, and Lindell said he was relieved after the competition ended and quickly turned his attention to the upcoming competition, which his personal coach will attend.
"It was a decent week, but frustrating. I had everything I needed to be at the top, but I just couldn't get anything in all week. Now I have three days to get ready for next week's course and greens for the upcoming competition."
Although the Finn often looked desperate on the green when his putts missed the hole, he pulled himself together from day to day and hole to hole and did not let it affect his next shot. It is obviously easy to maintain confidence in your own abilities when you have shown your potential on the European Tour.
"It was easy to keep the whole package together. The weather and the course were so easy that it was impossible to hit the ball too crookedly. I just need to work on my putting at the beginning of the week and believe that I can sink them again."
The battle for the top spot in the competition is shaping up to be between Tommy Fleetwood, ranked fifth in the world, and Rory McIlroy, ranked second in the world, who played a furious 62-stroke final round.