The Irish Open is once again bringing the superstars to the tee – Lindell: “Things are going well at the moment”
The DP World Tour is racing ahead into the ‘back nine’ of the season, which means even bigger tournaments in terms of points and prize money. Oliver Lindell is competing again this week in the Irish Open, a tournament he has fond memories of from last year. In his debut season, he finished 7th at the Amgen Irish Open. This season has been even more successful than last, with the Porvoo native currently sitting at number 10 in the Race to Dubai rankings. His world ranking of 109 is also the highest of his career.
Once players who have secured their PGA Tour card for next season are removed from the R2D rankings, Lindell’s rise to the world’s number one tour is currently looking promising. However, there is still a long way to go, with big tournaments still to come – and Lindell himself is well aware of this.
“The situation is what it is at the moment, but above all, the atmosphere is good. Our goal for the rest of the season, ahead of the championships, is to increase our ranking points so that we’re in second place before the finals.”
The Finnish points tally currently stands at 1,527, so the aim is to increase it by around 500 points before the two-part season finale.
This year’s Irish Open will be played at Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg. It is a beautiful links course on the Atlantic coast, where the wind is set to pose a real challenge to the players this week. The par-70 course features just three par-5s, whilst there are five par-3s.
“It’s a links course by the sea, where the fairways are lined with thick grass. If your ball ends up there, you’re unlikely to find it at all. It’s a really tricky course in these winds. On Monday, the wind direction was different to Tuesday. On Monday, it was easier to score on the front nine, whilst the back nine was tricky – on Tuesday, the situation was the reverse. Presumably the wind should be coming in from the sea, but there can be variations. The scenery is magnificent,” said Lindell.
The Irish Open has once again attracted a star-studded field, now that both the PGA Tour and Liv Golf finals have already been played. Rory McIlroy is here to defend last year’s title. Along with Shane Lowry, he is certainly the home crowd’s favourite. Liv Golf’s ranking winner, Jon Rahm, is also in the field, as are Robert MacIntyre and Tyrrell Hatton, amongst others.
Lindell’s equipment suffered some setbacks in his previous competition, the British Masters, when his 8-iron bent and his initial concerns about the face of his mini-driver also proved to be justified – the clubhead had cracked during the final round. Over the week’s break, his kit has also been sorted out.
“The new set of irons has finally arrived, but the changes were mainly visual. They’re the same model and very similar to the old ones. The mini-driver also came with a replacement head, which was the same as the previous one.”
Lindell will begin his competition on Thursday at 14.35 Finnish time, alongside Matthew Jordan and Nacho Elvira.