Lindell performed admirably in his major debut – "The first tee shot was the most exciting moment of my career"
Oliver Lindell's six-hour debut round in the majors, The Open, ended with a score of 72 (+1), and the Finn maintained a reasonable position in the battle for a place in the next round. The score is currently enough for T55, with some players still on their rounds. Lindell started his major career with a magnificent birdie on the opening hole and made another birdie on the fifth hole. Unfortunately, he also had two bogeys in between, so his front nine ended in a par score.
The Porvoo native made his third birdie of the day on another par-4 hole, the 15th. His tee shot on the 17th found the notorious sand dunes, resulting in a bogey that dropped his overall score one stroke over par. Based on the first round, Lindell is right on the cut line. He found room for improvement in his game but enjoyed the atmosphere.
"It was cool, but it's a shame that I had some challenges with my swing today and had to work on them a lot. Luckily, my putter stayed warm, so I was able to achieve this result. The opening of the first fairway was the most exciting moment of my career so far, but my low fade shot with a mini driver sat nicely on the first fairway."
"It was so much fun out there that I didn't even notice the time passing until I glanced at my watch," said the Finnish player about his exceptionally long round.
The opening game was good, except for the 17th hole, with both the driver and mini driver, as well as the 3-wood. However, the approaches were atypically lacking, especially on the par 5 holes, which are usually good places to hit.
"The opening shot on the 14th hole was one of the best of the day, but the ball went a little long as it rolled from the middle of the fairway into the bunker, resulting in a bogey. I wasn't able to take advantage of the par 5s, even though I managed to hit my second shot onto the green on each one. I should have succeeded with those to get my score below par," Lindell lamented.
Five players are currently tied for the lead at -4. Among them are two of Lindell's competitors from the DP World Tour. The DPWT players and Europeans in general performed well on the opening day. Lindell had no immediate answer as to whether this was due to the course suiting them or the high level of the tour.
"Yes, links golf is certainly more familiar to Europeans. I haven't focused on other players' games or results, so I can't say anything about the differences in level between the tours."
Lindell will tee off for his second round on Friday at 6:05 p.m. Finnish time.