Lindell’s Saturday was a rollercoaster ride – “Weak drives come back to haunt you here, and that’s when the bogeys start piling up”
Oliver Lindell had a rather mixed Saturday in Austria. After a promising start and a fine first half of the round, things took a complete turn for the worse on the back nine, and he dropped a few places on the leaderboard. The day saw six birdies but also five bogeys. He is tied for 44th place with a total score of -5.
Saturday’s score of 69 left him hoping for what would hopefully be his best round of the tournament – and a solid performance overall – in the final round. After birdies on holes 9 and 10, Lindell was already sharing fifth place in the competition, but several mistakes crept in towards the end, which came back to haunt him in the form of bogeys.
“A good birdie on the first, then an aggressive birdie putt on the second that missed, and the comeback putt didn’t drop either. There were good opportunities to make up for it on the following holes. I managed to make some good birdies, and when I hit a wedge right up against the flag on the tenth, things were looking good.”
“The 11th and 12th tee shots were good, but they fell about a metre wide of the fairway. On the 12th, I hit a real blooper from the rough into the one spot you simply can’t miss, even though we were right on the edge of the green, and that resulted in a bogey,” Lindell recalled.
Lindell hit some brilliant iron shots on the par-3 holes and managed to birdie them all on the front nine, until he came to this week’s headache – the 13th hole.
“I’ve now hit a half-missed ball from the tee in the same spot on the 13th hole every day. There’s an out of bounds on the left, but today I tried to hit the ball into a nice high arc; however, a thin shot left me in the worst spot of the week. The bogey was a success, as the ball was stuck in the bunker lip, from where I hit away from the lip towards the out-of-bounds. The ball sank deep into the rough, from where I got it up and down. Tomorrow I’ll tee it up a bit higher so I’m sure to hit the green.”
After that, the Porvoo player once again confidently hit the remaining par-3s onto the green, but his teeshots proved challenging towards the end of the round.
“My 15th tee shot veered sharply to the right, and on the 17th it went left again. Both left me with nothing but a layup. I hit some good chip shots, at least one of which I should have saved. It was the same story as yesterday – the putts just wouldn’t drop. Technically, my putting was solid, but my aim was slightly off.”
“Poor tee shots come back to haunt you here; they’re just asking for bogeys. The course is still easy if you hit the fairway. Likewise, you should aim to land short of the green; otherwise, you’ll be in trouble in the rough around the green. A score of 7 or 8 under par is still very much within reach, and let’s hope that’s left for tomorrow. Another good chance to strike in the morning,” Lindell predicts.
Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia (-13), who started Saturday with four birdies, has taken the lead in the competition.