Lindell on his best performance ever – "The first competition where I was hitting well throughout the entire event"
Oliver Lindell achieved his best ranking of his career and sensationally took his third top 10 finish in his debut season in the last four starts. He ultimately finished seventh with a total score of -12. Looking at the scorecard, the final day was quiet. That's not necessarily a bad thing on the final day, but in the end, he was five strokes away from the win.
"You need one low round during the competition to be in contention for the win. Today was a balanced performance, and we didn't lose the competition today. There were some challenging flag positions, and it rained intermittently, which always caused the wind to pick up. Today, I sank the putts I needed to, and I can't be anything but satisfied, as this was enough to secure my place in next week's BMW PGA Championship. It took a lot of hard work to get there," said Lindell.
Lindell finished the final day with a score of 14 par, three birdies and only one bogey. The second birdie of the day on the 12th hole fired up the crowd and Lindell himself. It was the course's "party hole", and a huge crowd had gathered around the par 3.
"It was a sweet moment and it gave me confidence in my own performance, as nothing had gone right since the par putt on the first hole."
However, the star moment for Lindell and the Spanish Cabrera Bello's group came this time for his playing partner, when he hit a hole in one on the third hole of the day. After this, the group received a lot of attention and screen time as the Spaniard climbed into contention for the win.
"I was aware that my playing partner was advancing at the pace of the leaders, as the cameras were following him constantly from the hole-in-one onwards."
The Porvoo native had a really strong and consistent week in Ireland in tough company. All his round scores were well below par, and Lindell was particularly impressive at the top of the statistics in terms of ball striking. The reward for a great week and season will be his first Rolex Series event next week at Wentworth.
"It was actually the first solid week of the season, with my putting at a good level all four days. Over the weekend, I putted a little better than on the first few days. That's the only thing that kept me from winning this week," Lindell said.
The winner of this high-level competition was ultimately Rory McIlroy (-17), the favourite of both the competition and the home crowd. The victory came only after a third playoff hole against Swedish surprise contender Joakim Lagergren. McIlroy managed to make a birdie on every playoff hole, and Lagergren, who had played with Lindell for two days in Denmark, succumbed on the third attempt.
The other Finnish player in the competition, Tapio Pulkkanen, finished in 29th place (-4) after a final round marked by seven birdies and two triple bogeys.