The best round result of his career secured a spectacular rise! – Lindell: "I feel great – the best round of the week is mine."
Oliver Lindell played a fantastic bogey-free round on the final day, finishing with a score of -7. His 64-stroke round is not only Lindell’s best result in the tournament, but also the best single round of the entire competition! This is a very strong round for the Finn in his main tournament. Starting the day in 37th place, Lindell climbed the leaderboard to at least T15 with a total score of -3.
“The front nine was still pretty rough, but the putts sank nicely. Takaysi was better overall, but the tee shots that came down the fairway still rolled to the rough side. However, I’m left with a great feeling about today and this week. I finally broke the ‘-6 curse’ at DPWT, which is my best round ever and the best round of the week. I’m feeling good about the first gold competition of the season,” Lindell said.
In addition to climbing approximately 20 places, the success of the final day was extremely important with next week in mind. The first Rolex Series competition of the season awaits at the Emirates Golf Club, approximately 30 kilometres away.
Lindell’s first of two tournaments in Dubai was quite a rollercoaster ride. It started with a bang, as he was even in the lead on Thursday before the final hole. On Friday, he took a dive in the rankings, but on Sunday, his score was already 14 strokes better than the day before. Such an improvement in just two days is remarkable, even though the conditions were slightly easier.
What makes Sunday’s round confusing is the fact that the Porvoo native only hit the fairway four times out of 15 attempts. On the other hand, he once again racked up 14 birdies.
“The way it works is that the player with the most fairway hits doesn’t necessarily celebrate the wins. In easier conditions, even poor shots were easily overcome. The missed shots today were in relatively easy spots, and the putting was very good, so it’s hard to play badly. On the fifth hole, I chipped in from a semi-rough, and on the last hole, I sank a 15-metre birdie from below the green. It was a great way to end this competition.”
The battle for victory turned into a contest between Spain’s Nacho Elvira and Ireland’s Shane Lowry. Lowry’s difficulties on the final hole in the form of a double bogey opened up the possibility for the Spaniard to claim his third victory on the main tour. A par on the final hole would be enough for him to win, while a bogey would mean a play-off against Daniel Hillier, who had played a superb round.