Oliver Lindell finishes T28 in his Open debut – “Walking onto the 18th green was the finest moment of my career”
Oliver Lindell took a slight step back in the final round compared to the previous two days and played to par (71). His overall score of -5 earned him a fantastic place in the top 30 in his first major start, which can be considered a top performance. Lindell's final ranking will be T28.
"Walking onto the 18th green today was the finest moment of my career so far. Otherwise, I can only be happy that I got to experience this, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next major."
The Finn managed to score three birdies on his final round, but he also had three bogeys on his card. Two of the birdies were again on par 5 holes. Lindell did not see many good birdie opportunities on Sunday, as he had challenges with his opening shots and had to save several pars with his putter, which had been hot all week.
"I had challenges with my driver today, with my opening shots going both to the right and to the left. I only hit the fairway once with my driver today, on the 15th hole. However, it was a good fight today, and I made some great par saves halfway through the round. At the end, there were a couple of good birdie opportunities, but I couldn't get the putts in," Lindell commented on his final round.
Lindell had good success on the par 3 holes today, with the exception of the sixth hole. He managed to make a birdie on the 13th hole, but he was unable to capitalise on a magnificent iron shot on the 200-metre 16th hole when his two-metre putt slipped past the cup. The same thing happened on the next hole when a short birdie putt failed to find the cup.
"They were challenging short putts. I had to play them on the biggest slopes, which meant I had to play them with a big break, and both went over the top, even though they looked like they were going to drop in. I don't know what happened on the sixth hole when my iron shot fell 35 metres short. There's something wrong with that iron now."
In addition to unforgettable memories and feelings, The Open also offers a hefty prize pot of around €100,000. This is by far the largest prize money Lindell has ever earned in his career.
"Overall, it was a really cool week, even though the end left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. Now I can take a well-deserved break, which was supposed to start a week ago according to my original plans. I can now go there with my DPWT card in my pocket, which is very comforting."
The big favourite to win the competition is Scottie Scheffler, who is currently number one in the world rankings.