No player avoided bogeys in Dubai – Lindell: "You can't play in strong winds with this club."
Oliver Lindell’s second round at the Dubai Invitational was a disaster. After a strong start to the competition, things took a turn for the worse on Friday, with Lindell taking 10 more strokes than the previous day. The day’s result of +7 dropped Lindell’s total score to +4. His ranking fell to “only” T35, which reflects the extremely challenging windy conditions and the difficulties they caused for everyone.
Lindell did not blame his poor round on the conditions, but admitted that his swing style is problematic in strong winds.
“There’s not much you can do about it. As soon as the wind picks up a little, you’re back in the same old trouble. We knew before the round that it was going to be a difficult day, as our hitting has been inconsistent. You can’t play with a swing like this in windy conditions, we need to start reducing it,” said Lindell.
Lindell found confidence in his game last season, improving his fairway accuracy from the tee. His powerful left-to-right spin has been a sure way to find the fairway, but in strong winds, the heavy spin becomes too much.
The round, which started on the tenth tee, immediately went off track when a double bogey was scored on the first fairway, just like on yesterday’s final fairway. The Finn’s second shot disappeared to the left near the green and could not be found within two minutes. Lindell was still in a reasonable position until the final hole, when he scored another double bogey. His putting, which had been working well, failed him on the final holes when two short putts rolled past the cup.
Yesterday, in particular, saw Lindell’s best putting in a long time, and today’s opening round was also respectable. Due to both the conditions and the day’s stroke play, the question today was whether to mark a “good” par or a bogey on the card. In the opening round, however, birdie opportunities came thick and fast, and the pars were more of a disappointment.
“Two birdie opportunities opened up during the day, and I sank both of them. I continued to putt well, but unfortunately missed a couple of three-metre putts at the end. It was a similar day to yesterday, but the strong wind amplified mistakes, leading to more serious problems. Luck also played a part, as many good tee shots rolled right into Canada.”
“The positive thing about this is that I haven’t blown 80 shots this season, at least not yet,” Lindell chuckled.
The top spots in the competition were shaken up during a remarkable second round. The round scores of 68 by Nacho Elvira and Shane Lowry (-5), who rose to the top, can be considered top performances. No player in the entire competition managed to get through Friday without a bogey or worse, and only nine players finished the day under par. In addition, only two holes on the course were played under par. Yesterday, the corresponding figure was 10.
The brightest stars of the competition also struggled, with Tommy Fleetwood playing like Lindell with a score of +7. Rory McIlroy, on the other hand, hit his ball into the water four times and fought to finish “only” three strokes over par.