Lindell’s putting struggles continued at Wentworth – “My sixth round in a row like this – it’s a shame, as the atmosphere was good”
Oliver Lindell’s campaign at the BMW PGA Championship got off to a shaky start. His opening-round score of +1 (73) puts him in joint 83rd place, whilst the afternoon players are only just getting started. A year ago, the Finn managed to avoid any rounds over par at Wentworth, and today he had another excellent opportunity to do so.
However, the problems were familiar from last week, as his ball-striking was still top-class, but his struggles on the greens were at least on a par with last week’s. The round began, unusually, on the ninth hole, where Lindell missed a one-metre par putt and started his day with a bogey. The longest putt of the day came on the final hole, but the birdie was little consolation.
“I should have managed a score of 4 or 5 under par quite comfortably today. We managed to hit all the par-5s ‘ to the tailwind, but the end result on those holes was just par. On the 17th, I hit a 6-iron on the second shot, followed by an 4-iron into the green on the 18th. Those holes were marked as +1 on the scorecard. My putting was so dreadful today that it’s mentally draining to play a round like that.”
When birdie putts don’t drop, the scorecard quickly becomes a grim read at the Wentworth course. It’s impossible to avoid mistakes on tricky pin positions, which is why ‘easy’ birdies should be used to build up a sufficient buffer against the inevitable bogeys.
“When you try to play aggressively towards the flag, it’s easy to make mistakes here. The vast majority of the flags are positioned in such a way that if you hit the ball past them on the shortside, it ends up in a dead spot. My shots on holes 2 and 14 were good, but missing to the wrong side led to bunkers, and I ended up with a bogey on both of them. Similarly, on the 7th hole towards the end, my approach shot headed towards the flag but spun all the way down the green. I remembered that from last year, so I tried to take the spin out of the shot,” Lindell lamented.
Last week’s putting difficulties have been identified, and Lindell has been practising the putting with his coach. The atmosphere was electric and expectations were high, but the day turned out to be tougher than expected right from the start.
“Same old story as last week – I missed the putt by a metre three times again. I already missed the first one on the first hole, and I knew right then it was going to be a tough round. I managed to get over that quite well, mind you, but the mess-ups on holes 17 and 18 dampened the mood. My par-fives after the opening shots were a bit of a disaster. It’s a shame, because the atmosphere was certainly good.”
This season’s PGA Championship winner, Aaron Rai, and Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren surged to the top of the Rolex Series standings with a score of -6. Lindell will set out to improve his position on Friday at 15.20 Finnish time.