Lindell still holding on to the best ranking of his career – "There's a lot at stake tomorrow if we play well"
Oliver Lindell's rise stalled slightly in the third round with three bogeys. However, his overall score of -1 still puts him in 9th place, which is one place better than his best finish on the DP World Tour. During the front nine, the Porvoo native managed to climb to third place on the leaderboard, just two strokes behind the leader. His round score of 73 puts him seven strokes behind the leader, but only four strokes behind the players tied for second place.
However, there is no reason to hang your head because of the back nine score. The Finn's performance in the tournament has been so impressive so far that it creates an unnecessarily large contrast, as a +3 score on the back nine is almost the baseline for the competition and not a major collapse. Lindell himself was of the same opinion.
"Today, I just couldn't get any putts in after the start. A few short putts that missed the back nine took their toll, but I fought well until the end and didn't blow it. Tomorrow, however, I'll be able to fight for the best finish of my career," said Lindell.
The round got off to a very unusual start when Lindell made par on his opening hole (par 5), with his third shot coming from the tee box after his first ball landed in the rough. An eagle on the second hole ultimately gave him a good start to the round.
"It was a really grim start, as I hit a decent tee shot, but the ball was nowhere to be found in the rough on the left. From the tee box, it looked like it might be on the fairway, but we just couldn't find it. I made up for it with a spectacular chip shot from 30 metres," said Lindell about the unique start to his round.
The windy conditions in Scotland on an already challenging course suited Lindell's well-controlled low shots perfectly. Even low shots have their own risks, which almost materialised during today's round.
"I hit quite well today, but a few of my opening shots caught the front rough when I tried to keep the ball low. Some of the fairways have long grass growing right at the front of the tee box, and my tee shot on the 14th, among others, hit the grass and plunged straight down. However, my shots in this weather have been good enough, and today's result was weaker due to my putting. There is a lot to offer tomorrow with good play."
After three days, the competition is led by a Finnish player, with Scotland's Grant Forrest leading the competition with a score of -8, three strokes ahead of the others. Tapio Pulkkanen played a 77, as he did on the opening day, and shares 49th place with a total score of +7.
Lindell will tee off for his final round at 12:37 Finnish time, together with John Parry and Davis Bryant.