Oliver Lindell is excited to be returning to a happy hunting ground as he prepares to tee it up in the Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos.
The Finn endured a slow start to the 2024 Road to Mallorca, but a second-place finish at the Danish Golf Challenge in May kick-started his campaign and since then he has found consistency, securing six top 20 finishes.
The 26-year-old enters the week at a season-high 23rd on the Road to Mallorca Rankings and credits his recent form to an improvement in his accuracy off the tee.
“It was a tough start to the year,” he said. “But I shot a 62 in the final round in Denmark to finish second and that probably changed the whole year for me. Getting a good result there, and a lot of points, gave me confidence.
“I’m hitting more drivers off the tee now, and there’s not that many bad shots. I would say I’m hitting 20 percent more fairways, so there’s been a lot of improvement.
“This is my eighth year on the Challenge Tour, but this has been my best season ever – I feel like golf is nice again.”
Lindell’s form has put him within touching distance of a top 20 spot on the Rankings and he is determined to continue picking up points as the season enters its final stretch.
“I still feel like I’m quite far off,” he added. “You never know what’s going to happen, but I think I need to double my points to secure a top 20 spot.
“There’s points up for grabs every week and you have to push on now. I had a bad week at home in Finland, but it looks much better after good finishes in Sweden and Poland.”
Looking ahead to the Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos, Lindell is confident of another strong showing on a course where he finished in a share of fourth place in 2022.
“I like playing here,” he said. “In 2022 I remember making a 60-foot eagle putt on 18 in the final round, then last year I made an 80-foot putt to the same pin and I just started laughing - I think it’s my happy place.
“The fairways are quite soft so if you can carry it long you have a huge advantage. At the same time, it’s going to be windy and there’s water in play on lots of holes, so I think it will play tough. If you keep your ball dry here, you’ll save a lot of shots.
“I’m just going to try to have fun. That’s what I tried in Poland and it worked well. I’m pretty sure I’ll finish high up the leaderboard if I just have fun.”
Lindell is part of a strong field in Portugal that includes a pair of two-time winners on the 2024 Road to Mallorca in Englishman John Parry and Spaniard Joel Moscatel.
Joining them are several DP World Tour winners, including former Portugal Masters champions Álvaro Quirós of Spain and Frenchman Alexander Levy, who triumphed on these shores in 2008 and 2014 respectively.
The first round of the Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos gets under way at 7:40am local time, with Lindell teeing it up alongside Spaniard Quim Vidal and Portugal’s Hugo Camelo Ferreira at 8:10am.
