Lindell strikes again with a top round to join the battle for the lead
Oliver Lindell returned to top form on Saturday after a difficult round. The Finn is currently tied for fifth place on the leaderboard with a total score of -10. The third round was another birdie bonanza, with Lindell scoring no fewer than seven red birdie marks on his card.
Statistically, Lindell has been the best player in the tournament in terms of approach shots. Today, it wasn’t the number of greens in regulation that mattered, but their quality, which was lacking at times yesterday. The warm corner iron was also inevitably reflected in the statistics.
“Another good day today, especially with my putting. The weather was tough. The eighth hole did dampen my spirits a little, but I managed to make big birdies on holes 9 and 10, which immediately made up for my mistake. I knew I was on form and managed to string together some good shots right after the double bogey. All in all, it was a good day, and if I can get my score down to around -15 tomorrow, I’ll be pretty close to the top.”
A double bogey on the par-3 and a bogey are the mistakes that currently separate the Porvoo native from the top spot in the competition. Patrick Reed holds the lead with a score of -14. The trio in second place is only two strokes behind.
Lindell’s opening shot on the eighth hole ended up in the water through the rocks, but after that he fought back with four birdies on the next five holes. The eighth hole has been the most challenging hole of the day, with Joakim Lagergren, who is in second place, also finding his ball in the water hazard, even though it landed on the green.
“The shot on the fairway was a terrible pull. It looked like it would be enough for the green, but it ended up on the front left rocks. The bogey on the 17th hole was more disappointing. The wind has been blowing from the same direction all week, and I’ve been hitting my iron onto the back green, but today my iron shot fell short and I couldn’t get the up & down. On the last hole, my opening shot went left into the rough, and I couldn’t even hit the flag through the gap because it was in an impossible spot,” Lindell summed up.