Lindell, who sank seven birdies, three strokes behind the leader – "There were two places where I could have made a bogey, and I did on both occasions."
Oliver Lindell got off to a fantastic start in the first competition of the final stage in Abu Dhabi. With seven birdies, the Porvoo native shares 20th place with Marco Peng and Matt Fitzpatrick, among others, with a score of -5. Close behind Lindell after the opening round are Rory McIlroy and Ludvig Åberg, who scored a hole-in-one.
For a long time, it looked like Lindell would not get any results other than birdies on his card. The bogeys were not on the front nine, nor were they anywhere near the back nine, and a really low round was on the cards, barring a slight lapse in concentration. The same can be expected this weekend, as his putting is at its best this season.
“I can’t play much worse than this at the moment. However, with this result (-5), we are at -20 overall, which could be useful in the competition. Yesterday, during the practice round, I hit two balls into the same bunker, which is where the 15th hole ended up today. I thought I couldn’t hit it a third time. You can’t hit a driver there anymore, because it’s the worst spot on the course besides the long grass,” Lindell lamented the mistake that ended his bogey-free round.
Lindell found the worst spot on the course, where practically only his head was visible from the fairway bunker.
Sterne, Lowry, Fleetwood and Kobori (-8), who are leading the competition, all got to play their rounds in very calm conditions early in the morning. The wind picked up at times towards the end of Lindell’s round, making the back nine challenging. The course is fairly easy for the tour’s elite this week, but the 18th hole, for example, a 600-metre par 5 played into the wind, is very dependent on the conditions.
The final holes are different in competition than in practice rounds, especially in that weather. On the 16th hole, I started aggressively to make up for the previous bogey by going for a birdie and missed the approach into the rough. It’s really challenging to hit from such thick rough around the green when you can’t hit too hard, which I was careful not to do, and it ended up being a bit of a “softie” and the chip fell short, as did the putt. I was happy with my putting, even though I putted a little too softly on the fast greens. The
fairways at Yas Links are cut as short as possible with modern equipment, and the greens have a fierce stimp reading of 12.
“A couple of shots went off the tee, but 16 greens in regulation today tells the whole story of good hitting. I didn’t need to make any bogeys here, there were two opportunities for them and I took both. If my hitting improves day by day, I can be satisfied,” Lindell summed up.
A relaxed and carefree expression lit up Lindell’s face, and the team set off in spectacular fashion. On Friday, there will be another opportunity to complete a flawless lap when the Finn starts at 6:28 a.m. Finnish time. Local time is also early (8:28), which is good news due to the hot weather and rising winds throughout the day. The thermometer showed a “high” of 33 degrees in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.