Thunderstorms and rain have plagued players during training days – Lindell: "The greens are soft and the stick measurement rule is in effect during the tournament."
Oliver Lindell’s competitions in South Africa continue this week with the Alfred Dunhill Championship in Johannesburg. The Finn is the highest-ranked player in the world rankings among those competing, at 16th. This also indicates that the competition is significantly smaller in scale than last week’s tournament, which naturally opens up opportunities for Lindell to succeed.
However, as of Wednesday evening, there are still question marks hanging over the staging of the competition.
“Three days of rain have been behind us at the start of the week. It has thundered here every day around 1 p.m., and training has ended daily at that time. The weather has been great until then, and fortunately I have been able to play the entire course. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I played nine holes, and on Monday I got as far as the eighth hole,” Lindell reports.
The competition has a 30-year history, but this is the first time it will be played at the Royal Johannesburg course. However, the same course has been used in the past for competitions such as the Joburg Open, which is part of the DP World Tour calendar. On those occasions, the winning scores ranged from -17 to -19, which means that an average of around five under par would be required to win. However, the weather has been rainy at the start of the week, which may be reflected in the tournament results.
“Heavy rainfall has made the course easier, as the greens are really soft. There will be a club-length transfer rule on the fairways, which will also make it easier to score well. Hole hits will therefore be even more important this week. The rough is also very uneven, so it will be a matter of luck what kind of spot you end up in if you miss the fairway.”
Porvoo’s season opener last week was mixed, with half of the rounds finishing above par and two rounds performing as strongly as usual. He has now had three days to acclimatise, particularly to the high altitude, which, along with the greens, caused him the most trouble last week.
“I got a clear picture of the new course, even though the days were fragmented. We’ll see how smooth the competition will be here. The course looks good, and I’m starting to get a better grasp of its dimensions. It’s a park course with some elevation changes and water hazards. Everything feels good based on the practice rounds, and I am eagerly awaiting the start of the competition and hopefully playing the full course without any major interruptions,” Lindell summed up.
Lindell will tee off at 12:20 p.m. on Thursday, alongside South Africans Hennie Du Plessis and Darren Fichardt. The latter, a 50-year-old legend in his home country, won the previous Joburg Open played at Royal Johannesburg in 2017.
Although Fichardt, who has moved to the senior series, is not quite at the same level as in previous years, it is easy to see the home representatives as the pre-tournament favourites across the board. Among others, the DP World Tour website lists as many as six South Africans among the seven most likely winners.
Behind them are some wild cards, such as Aldrich Potgieter and Wilco Nienaber, the longest hitters on both the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, who will both be hitting the ball hard next week in the high altitude of Johannesburg.