The biggest "row race" of the season ahead in Ireland – five-time major winner joins the group for a practice round
The DP World Tour is moving on to the big events of the autumn as the Ryder Cup looms at the end of the month. This week, it's time for the tour's biggest money tournament, with the Amgen Irish Open offering a total prize pool of $6 million and a hefty haul of ranking points. Oliver Lindell is playing for the second-largest prize money of his career this week and, above all, for important points towards next week's BMW PGA Championship and the season-ending finals.
The big competition comes quickly after the season's most prestigious tournament, as circumstances disrupted the schedule of the previous competition. Lindell had to play two rounds on Saturday in Switzerland and spend every day on the course around the clock.
"I've recovered well from Switzerland and had time to familiarise myself with the venue. I'm really looking forward to the start of the competition. There's a real feeling of a big competition here, as there have been lots of spectators watching even during the practice days," said the Finnish ace.
The list of previous Irish Open winners includes names such as Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, all of whom will also be playing in this year's European Ryder Cup team. The list also includes Mikko Ilonen from 2014, when he celebrated his victory in Ireland 11 years ago.
This year's list of participants also includes names such as McIlroy, Hatton, Koepka, Lowry and Reed. Lindell got to meet five-time major winner Brooks Koepka during Monday's practice round when the LIV star unexpectedly joined the Porvoo native's group. The competition course in the small village of Straffan is park-like, challenging in wet weather and quite long.
"It's a tight course and in places the rough is long and tight. It will be challenging if you don't hit the fairway, and you'll definitely have to hit some shots from there. On the par fives, it will be critical to hit the fairway, otherwise there's no hope of hitting your second shot onto the green. All fairways except 16 are two-shot fairways," Lindell described the course.
"There are numerous small dogleg fairways on the course. There are also several water hazards marked with yellow stakes next to the greens, so water balls will cost a lot here."
Lindell, ranked 206th in the world, will tee off for his opening round at 10:40 a.m. Finnish time, accompanied by Canada's Aaron Cockerill and Germany's Maximilian Kieffer. Finland's Tapio Pulkkanen is also hunting for the ranking points he desperately needs to renew his card.