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SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY KITCHENAID

May 20, 2015

Jesper Parnevik

FRENCH LICK, INDIANA

JULIUS MASON: Jesper, welcome to French Lick, Indiana. You had a really nice tie for fourth finish at the Greater Gwinnett this year. How is your game?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Game is pretty good. Healthy, which I'm very happy about. I've been injured for about six or seven years now. I had some surgeries. I'm trying to play on the PGA TOUR, but then I got injured and so on. I felt pretty good last year, but then I fell on that Segway, I borrowed a Segway from a friend and lasted about eight seconds, broke two ribs, and I haven't played since the start of this year. So I'm very happy to be able to swing at it. I can practice, I can swing through the ball, which is nice. I been kind of having a half effort to go through the ball for seven years. I had to aim about 80 yards right and hit a low snap hook. So it's nice to be able to get it airborne again.

JULIUS MASON: Segway. First time ever on a Segway?

JESPER PARNEVIK: It was first time. And the guy told me, I thought he was joking, that both his friends that tried a Segway the first time both died on the first trip. And I thought it was just --

JULIUS MASON: And you still got on it?

JESPER PARNEVIK: He said, so take your time, like learning how it works. And I thought he was just kidding. But I took just eight seconds for me, I was just going to turn back, and it started spinning and I fell down and I got the bar in my chest, broke the bar on the Segway and broke two ribs. So that was it. Oh, yeah, my son was actually filming it, because we were having a road trip and he said, dad, you got to try this thing out. So he had me on camera and -- but he got so scared when I fell down, because he was also there the year before when I cut my finger off on the boat. So he saw that. So he panicked when he saw something bad could have happened. And his first question was, should I go and get mom? Because he knows if I said yes it was bad. And so I said yeah, because I actually thought it went through my chest. But that was that. So it's actually on YouTube, I think. So there to watch if anyone wants to see it. It hurts watching actually.

JULIUS MASON: So you're here playing in your first Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid. Have you played the golf course?

JESPER PARNEVIK: I have played the golf course.

JULIUS MASON: All 18?

JESPER PARNEVIK: It's a beautiful golf course. Probably never seeing anything like it. It's like it's almost like Whistling Straits on steroids I would say. It's just beautiful. It's right in front of you. It looks very tiny fairways when you stand on the tee you have to say, even though they grow a little bit when you get up there. But I don't think I ever played anything like it. I asked around the other players, I don't think they've seen anything like it either. But it's beautiful and it's quite a walk. I wish that -- I thought we were going to have buggies like they have on the Champions Tour.

JULIUS MASON: Next year we're going to have Segways.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Okay, there you go. (Laughter.) And actually, I asked all the players what they think about the winning score and nobody has clue. They could be guessing between 10-over to 10-under. They can't really tell. Depending upon -- I know the greenskeeper said he cut the rough I think last week or something like that. Which everybody's very happy about, because they could have made this thing unplayable, I'm sure. If we went to the back tee, high rough, firm greens, I don't think anyone would break 90. Pretty much. But I think it's pretty fair course though. It's not -- I mean, it's not tricked up or anything, it's right in front of you. Good shots, get it close. And it's just the walk up -- like number 5, for example, feels like you walked about 10 miles when you get up that hill, the par-5. But apart from that, I love it. I like to take a lot of pictures and post on Instagram. Because it's beautiful. It's hard to explain to anyone when you don't see it. It looks like a Scottish course, but it's not a Scottish course, yeah, it's weird. But I like it.

JULIUS MASON: Good deal. Thank you. Questions?

Q. Tell us a little bit about the reality show that you guys have right now.
JESPER PARNEVIK: Oh, yeah. Actually the last episode just aired last week I think it is and it's -- I think actually, I don't know if it was NBC or whatever, asked me about 15 years ago, 20 years ago to do one in the U.S. before reality shows existed. Before the Osbournes even. And I always said no. And then when I was injured they asked me in Sweden to do one with my family and I didn't like the concept at all because I'm, I really don't like reality TV. And when I fell on the Segway I told them yes, because I had nothing else to do. And luckily it was a huge success. Because I had a panic attack for a long time, because Swedish press is kind of like Australian press, they can kill you if they want to. And if it's nothing but perfect, especially if you're a celebrity, they will tear you apart. And I just managed to slip away with not too bad of any trolls on the web or anything like that. So I'm very pleased. It was actually a fun time. I mean, the concept was that we had three to five celebrities, everything from hockey players soccer players, politicians, rock stars, movie stars, come and stay with us for a week at my house in Florida. And then talking, hanging out talking about their careers and so on. But it was good fun. Good fun.

Q. Earlier Jeff Maggert said that these greens and the runoff of these greens is to penal, unlike TPC Sawgrass, that it would probably behoove a player to go for the middle of the green most of the time here and not shoot at the pins. Your thoughts?
JESPER PARNEVIK: Well, every hole is different because, if you're that good, you can shoot for the middle of the green, I would do that. But I cannot aim that well. And if you can't, you might as well go for the pin. But it seems like every green has a rough side to it and then a drop off side. And if I would prefer the rough, if I could, because when it drops off -- take a hole like 13, the par-3, for example. I mean, you have this big slope and this, just, you know, place you don't want to go on the left side with the fescue and all that. But if you bail out a little bit on the right, then it falls off that edge. It's impossible to hit the green from there. I mean, I tried to hit some flop shots from there. Pin was back left today. It was impossible to hit the green. So, you got to manage your game. If they would have been firm, the greens, a little bit faster, it would be a lot of fun to watch, but not to play.

Q. How much have you looking forward to getting out here on the Champions Tour these last couple years?
JESPER PARNEVIK: I would say because I've been so injured I've been looking forward to it. I've been kind of eager to get out and start playing again. Mostly because I'm healthy again. I think it might have been a little bit different if I would have been healthy and played every week on the PGA TOUR and so on. But, I mean, I love it out mere. I think it's the best TOUR. I would say it's probably the cheapest product in sports, period, when it comes to events. I would say, if I was a corporation, I would host a Champions Tour event every day. The money you get out of it, I mean every week we have a field that, 15 years ago if you had a tournament like that, you would be overjoyed, because it would never happen. It would be maybe one of those world TOUR events. That's it. But, I mean, take Branson this year, when would you ever in sports get a field like that where you get every lad in from 50 years back still today playing the same event. And corporate people can play with them and watch them, the crowd can watch them. I think it's a great TOUR and it's great guys out there. You see so many characters, so many fun personalities. Everybody's having fun. I think that -- I mean, I love it. I think it's actually better than I thought. I heard so many good things about it, but it's like better than I was hoping for.

Q. When you were out on the PGA TOUR you, along with Vijay Singh, were two of the guys out on range all the time. How difficult has it been for you with these injuries to not kind of maintain that? I would imagine it's good for your body, but maybe a little frustrating for you.
JESPER PARNEVIK: Oh, yeah, it's always frustrating. Especially when I tried to play the last six years on the PGA TOUR. I tried every January, I tried to get out and play again. And when I couldn't put the time in practice and so on, and especially when you feel rusty. I mean, I was always been practicing a lot, because I hate stepping up on the first tee not being a hundred percent sure where the ball is going. So, like you said, me and Vijay used to close down a lot of the driving ranges on TOUR. So it was frustrating, knowing that I really had no clue where it was going, but could not really practice either. Because if I did practice, I could not get out of bed the next day. So, it's nice now when I can hit balls again like I used to.

JULIUS MASON: We can all watch Jesper at 8:50 tomorrow morning going off with Brad Faxon and Mark O'Meara.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, there you go, two great names again. Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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