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THE SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY ROLEX

July 20, 2016

Jesper Parnevik

Carnoustie, Scotland

Q. As a fellow Swede, how much confidence can you take from that and inspiration going into this week?
JESPER PARNEVIK: A lot of inspiration. Confidence, I don't know about. I haven't played. I have been in Sweden all summer with friends and family. I haven't played since when we played the Players Championship, actually.

But usually the motivation is always here when it comes to Scotland. It's all a lot of fun. It's my favorite place on the planet to play. And Carnoustie, I'm happy we're not playing today, but Carnoustie is tough enough as it is. I played a practice round on Monday. It was blowing about 30. It was three, four clubs almost.

It's always a task, but it's fun. It's so different than anything else we ever play. I always enjoyed it, so I'm looking forward to it.

Q. This must be a really big week for you. You're one of 13 Ryder Cup players, so a lot of familiar faces here?
JESPER PARNEVIK: That's what's most fun about this. We are fortunate in go of that we can do these things. Usually athletes's careers end in their 30s, and here we are competing at a very high level with guys you've spent your whole life with which is a lot of fun. We had a big dinner last night. You'll see Torrance and Rocca and all those guys you haven't seen for awhile. It's fantastic and it's a great group of guys. It's a lot of fun. But I tell you what; most of them are still playing at a very, very high level, so it's never an easy task to get a win around here.

Q. And you obviously have a lot of motivation to get to that level after turning 50?
Q. And can you see the motivation to be as good at them at this age?
JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, I mean, I've pretty much been injured the last six, seven, eight years. I'm happy my body feels pretty good. I started to play better this year. My win in Houston was, of course, a highlight so far. I think I shocked everybody and myself winning that one. I can practice now. I can hit balls for a day or so. Just a few years ago I hit 15 balls and I couldn't get out of bed the next day. It's a different story.

So that's the main part; if I can feel healthy, it's still a lot of fun, but a lot of fun to see all the familiar faces. And back to this thing with Stenson, it sounds like ^ been waiting for forever. It's still a fairly new thing, especially U.K. golfers and so on. Europeans more understand. They think that golf is still a fairly new sport in Sweden. When I started playing golf, I was probably the only one. I went probably an hour drive to play golf. Nobody in my school or none of my friends, I took golf to show-and-tell for school, for example, things like that.

Sweden, I know where we're coming from. We're happy to get our first professional pretty much and we're happy someone qualified to be on The European Tour, and then to be part of The Ryder Cup; and then I went to the US and I started winning over there. So this was the last little trophy we needed for Swedish males. The females have spoiled us forever with major trophies, Annika in particular. I don't think the Swedish, non-golfing, even sports fan understand maybe how big this is in a way, because I think they don't -- most of them don't even know the guys haven't done this yet because we have so many trophies throughout the years. But hopefully it's going to be a big push for the new generation to come along.

And every step we as Swedes take, a fairly new sport like this, it's huge. Like when we saw, I think Ove Sellberg was the first guy to win on The European Tour, and that made myself and other guys feel, oh, it's possible, we can actually do this. Then with The Ryder Cup and then I started winning on the US, and then when I had my chances to win majors, I don't think anyone in Sweden thought a Swede would ever win a major, men's, you know what I mean.

So every step is huge and I think this is going to make a lot of young kids realise this is possible. Hopefully for the players that are playing now, and especially Henrik, the floodgates might open big time, now. I can see, three, four, five more majors in him. He's been playing so well the last five years, so this was just a matter of time actually.

Q. A lot of Swedish players on The Challenge Tour, as well, so gives them someone to look up to besides yourself?
JESPER PARNEVIK: Exactly. Every time someone has success, it's inspiration for everybody. It's a very, very big deal. He's going to win pretty much every award you can win in Sweden and so on, and he's well deserved of it. Hopefully he can kind of celebrate this week and really enjoy it and then kind of forget about it, because I think he has a few more he can win this year.

Q. How are you feeling ahead of tomorrow's first round? Do you feel ready?
JESPER PARNEVIK: I cannot say I feel ready. I'm more or less hoping for the motivation usually Scotland gives me when it comes to playing links golf.

Q. Is that your favorite kind of golf?
JESPER PARNEVIK: Yes, I would say because it's fun and it's very challenging, but you have to think on every shot. You have options on every shot. You have so many obstacles to avoid from the tee and into the greens. It's hard to explain links golf to someone that's never played it. It's kind of like reading a putt from 200 yards, you know. You almost have to read the bounces and the contours of the fairways and greens. It's a lot of fun.

As we know in the past, this course has put up a good fight. Looks like we're going to get a little bit better weather, but if the wind starts blowing, it's going to be tough, as always. Carnoustie is one of those courses that always puts up a fight, and I like to see that. Actually this is my biggest surprise joining the Champions Tour is how long we play the courses. Like here, we play all the way back on every tee shot.

Q. It's 7,300 yards now.
JESPER PARNEVIK: I thought joining this tour that I would reach every par 5 with a 6-iron. I could drive a few holes; I could hit wedge into every par 4. And the events we play in the US, like Sugarloaf, where we used to play a PGA TOUR event there, we play the same tees we did there.

It's a little bit tougher than maybe the Tour gets credit for, because like Langer, he's probably playing the best golf of his career I would say almost. He is more determined, more motivated, practices harder than he's ever done. I've never seen, actually, of all athletes I've ever met, having the career that Bernhard had, to be that motivated still to be the first guy in the fitness trailer every morning at 6:00 and the last guy to leave it at 6:00 at night every day, practice rounds, practice, practice, practice, that's pretty amazing. It's actually very, very, how should I say, impressive. But Bernhard is Bernhard. That's what he's always done.

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