New putter did not produce the desired result – Lindell: "My putting was pretty rubbish."
Oliver Lindell played the opening round in Madrid with a score of +3, which was just enough to place him among the top 100 (T98). Takaysi's round got off to a challenging start when he moved to the front nine, with the only Finnish player in the competition at +4 after the 12th hole. He hit a hot streak on holes 4-8 of the Madrid course, where he managed to score three birdies.
"It was a good day, except for the score. I missed all my putts today, even though they were very close. The fact that I always missed the green in the worst possible place was also reflected in the result. I hit three times with par 3s on the short side, where par is definitely not guaranteed. If I had putted even reasonably well, the day's result would have been around par," Lindell lamented.
On his last hole, the shortest par 3 on the course, Lindell was still at +1, but he succumbed to a rare double bogey. In the high altitude air under the Spanish sun, his iron shot flew over 170 metres, and Lindell found himself in the worst possible spot again.
"I hit my best shot of the day on the last hole. For a moment, it looked like the ball might go straight into the cup. The ball flies quite a bit here, and this shot flew 173 metres through the air and bounced into some nasty rough behind the green."
The shot distances this week are in a completely different league compared to last week's competition in Scotland. Lindell's round also included several shots well over 300 metres from the tee. The Porvoo native has been around the tour average in driving distance this season, but today his tee shots were the 13th longest in the competition. However, he was unable to capitalise on them on the opening day, as he also made some unusual mistakes on his approach shots.
"This is a rare week, as I hit drives on all holes except the par threes today. However, I hit my approach shots many times to places where you simply cannot hit. I don't normally make mistakes like this, but today they kept happening. My putting was also pretty poor today, so I'll be switching back to my old putter tomorrow," said Lindell.
The Porvoo native used a completely new putter for the opening round of this competition, but the experiment did not produce the desired result.
France's Ugo Coussaud and England's Sam Bairstow are tied for the lead at -6.
Lindell will start his second round on Friday at 10:30 a.m. Finnish time.