Lindell turned around a difficult start to the opening round and finished under par – “A brilliant five-iron turned the match around”
Oliver Lindell opened the Turkish Airlines Open with a score of 71 (-1). That puts him in joint 36th place after a steady opening round. His score is currently one stroke above the cut line, but at the same time just three strokes behind the 6th place.
The round, which began on the back nine for the Finnish player, got off to a slow start, with him sitting at +2 after six holes. However, he finished the front nine (10–18) strongly, recording his first birdies of the day on the 16th and 18th holes.
“The start of the round was really tough; I practically missed every putt. However, a brilliant five-iron on the 16th hole for a par three turned the game around. After that, my game was really good until I hit a poor six-iron on the sixth hole, after which I failed to get off to a good start on the next hole.”
Lindell failed to make the most of National GC’s relatively short par-5s until he bagged an easy birdie on the final par-5 (hole 4). His success continued straight away on the next hole, where he scored a second consecutive birdie on the 160-metre par-3. Unfortunately, however, the birdie streak was broken by a bogey when a short par putt slipped past the hole. On the opening day, the birdie putts didn’t go in from more than a couple of metres out, but there were still a few good par saves towards the end, which kept the score looking good.
“I hit two perfect shots on the final hole, but my approach bounced off the flagstick and spun off the green. The shot would have been within a metre, but I managed to sink a short ‘test’ putt after the chip. The short game was challenging, as the greens were sometimes burnt and sometimes soft. I got off to a decent start and the leaders didn’t pull away. That bodes well for tomorrow’s early tee-off,” said Lindell.
Leading the field is our western neighbour, Mikael Lindberg. The Swedes have made a strong start across the board, with no fewer than four of them featuring in the top ten.
Lindell will tee off for his second round on Friday at 7.55 am Finnish time.