Lindell’s week ended with an even-par total – “It’s rare to have four rounds that are this consistently poor”
Oliver Lindell’s tournament followed the same pattern, as he carded a 73 (+1) on Sunday, just as he had on Friday. On Thursday and Saturday, his scores were -1 respectively, giving him an overall score of par. This earned him a tie for 43rd place this week, alongside Tapio Pulkkinen, among others. Lindell himself described his rounds as consistently poor, which is not typical of him.
“It’s been a tough week; it’s rare to have four consistently poor rounds. The last couple of races have been challenging; practically every aspect needs to be fine-tuned with the next races in mind. It feels as though every aspect is just a matter of steady work. What stuck in my mind most was the wonderment as to why the competition was moved away from Carya. It was in top form last year.”
Looking at the bigger picture, Lindell should have performed better, particularly on the par-5 holes at National GC, when compared to the overall standard of play in the tournament. That’s exactly how his round on Sunday began, resulting in a disappointing bogey.
“On the first hole, I hit a good opening shot with a fade, but somehow it bounced off to the left into the rough. I thought it would be a good spot for a follow-up shot with a mini-driver. It wasn’t – the ball was 20cm off the fairway in some hollow where the grass didn’t grow. From there, I hit a high-topspin shot over the road into the bushes. I didn’t get a single start off as I’d hoped,” Lindell lamented.
Whilst last year’s course in Turkey was one of the best of the year in terms of condition, the same could not be said of this year’s choice.
“The course was in the worst condition I’ve ever seen on the Tour. The layout was partly ruined by heavy rain. You could certainly see from the scores that the greens were unevenly firm and therefore difficult.”
Sweden’s Mikael Lindberg claimed victory for the first time in his career with a score of -10. Only one player managed to finish under par in every round of the tournament, even though the competition was expected to produce some spectacular scores. This is partly due to the uneven condition of the course.
Lindell’s campaign continues again next week in Spain.