	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

VALERO TEXAS OPEN

October 7, 2007

Jesper Parnevik

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

NELSON SILVERIO: Alright, Jesper Parnevik. Thanks for joining us for a couple minutes.
Open it up straight to questions.

Q. Time and again, today, you absolutely -- what a dogfight. You got out of some jams.
JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah. I mean I had to dig pretty deep today because I got off to -- I didn't get off to a bad start, I couldn't get any momentum going all on the front-9.
I think I missed one green on the front, 1-over par and Justin got off to great start, got 3-under already so -- I mean it was tough and every time I thought I had it on the back-9 he came back with a couple more birdies so I mean he played great, I thought, so it was -- you know, of course, I wish I shot a few better but it was fun at the same time.
You know, I thought after that miracle par I made on 18 I might have it when he hit it long left over the green there but he hit a great chip shot there. That was a pretty, the tough shot he had. He knocked it up stiff. Anytime he had to do it, something definitely today, he did it.

Q. As a spectator looking on, you probably as a spectator probably would have enjoyed it as much as they did, you think?
JESPER PARNEVIK: Oh, yeah. It was a lot of strange things going on today. I mean the birdie I made on 15 probably go down in history one of the best birdies ever. The same thing on the par I made on 18 in the playoff.
I don't know. It was fun because for awhile there we were -- three of us tied for the lead and anyone could have won it and it was -- I have to say I enjoyed it even though it was tough, especially on the front-9 because, you know, I had a big lead and so it can even up very fast and I guess all the putts I holed the first couple days didn't go in today and that was the main difference.
I couldn't get anything going so I couldn't really get that free-wheeling feeling in the body.

Q. Have you ever had a run of just miracle shots like that, I mean things that you get in trouble and you pull yourself out of it?
Have you ever had a run like this?
JESPER PARNEVIK: I'm sure I have because I'm used to being in trouble, trust me (laughter). I'm not the best driver on Tour. I never have been.
But it's not always they come as timely as this when you definitely need them and they come -- you know, you pull them off, but, you know, it's not very often you play in a playoff and you have to take an unplayable and almost win the hole.
So, like I said, it was fun but I thought he was great. I give all the credit to Justin because he didn't do much wrong today and when he had to, he putted absolutely flawless. I know when he gets his putter going he is tough. That's just the way it is.

Q. Can you take us through what was going through your head from your tee shot on 18 and then from your conversation with you and Lance over on --
JESPER PARNEVIK: Problem was it kicked left and hit the cart path and kicked even further left and came up in the bushes there. There was a big rock sitting behind the ball.
So even though I had a swing I had no way to get it back into the fairway. So we tried to figure if we could go left and right. The rock was in the way so we had to take an unplayable and then, you know, I saw that he hit a bad second shot. That's when we decided to take the unplayable.
Maybe he makes bogey and then I hit that miracle shot to three feet and thought, shit, maybe we can win this, get a lucky win here. His chip shot was very good.

Q. How important is it for you to have somebody like Lance who was playing as a player as well to kind bounce things off of when you're trying to make a decision like that?
JESPER PARNEVIK: He's very good, of course. He's been out there forever as a player and as a caddie now for probably ten years and he knows the feelings the players goes through he has gone through when he's been out there and so on.
It's good because he can -- I wouldn't say he can sense when the bad shot is coming up but maybe we shouldn't go for this one and we did that on the first hole today. I could actually reach the green on 1 today after a great drive but I guess he sensed something could go wrong.
I birdied the first three days laying up. First we're going to go with a 3-wood, we went with a 6-iron instead and made par this time. Maybe it was the wrong decision, I don't know, but like there, if I would have hit the bad 3-wood and not made birdie, we would have said that was the wrong thing.
I would say a lot of times that he can sense when I'm about to mess things up and he can guide me in a different direction.

Q. How good does it feel to be back in the heat of battle like you were today?
JESPER PARNEVIK: It's great, of course. It's a lot of fun. Of course, I wanted to win but like I said, the tough thing is to actually get into position. Of course, guys like Tiger and so on who is always there -- I would say for me it's a little bit tougher because 72 holes is a long week.
It's a grind from Thursday morning and sometimes tough to really get going Thursday morning and pump yourself up and do the Tiger fist pump on the second hole with five people watching (laughter).
That's a tough thing to get yourself in a position. So I'm happy about that, that I actually got to feel it again because it's been awhile. I think it's been since Bob Hope last year, actually.

Q. Talk about the range of emotions that back-9, just must have been -- have you ever had anything like it before? Talk about how you felt.
JESPER PARNEVIK: I mean, of course, I felt a little distressed from the get-go because Justin made, I think, three birdies pretty much straight off the get-go and I bogeyed the 2nd hole.
Apart from that, I made a very disappointing bogey on 11, hit a bad chip shot there. But I mean I just tried to -- it was not much else to do.
I mean I knew he was going to keep on making birdies. I just have to give myself chances and I think I holed a good putt for par on 10 and then 12 was the first birdie I made of the day which kind of got things going a little bit.
Then I got a little bit -- unfortunate kick on 14, the par-5, I hit a pretty good drive, kicked right and went far out in the rough with a bad lie. I had to lay up there.
Hit a great shot to three feet there as well. Then I hit a bad tee shot on 15 and made an unbelievable birdie there.

Q. When did you feel the driver start betraying you? It seemed on the back side that's when it got loose.
JESPER PARNEVIK: Let's see. I hit a bad tee on -- the driver wasn't that bad, actually. I mean I hit semi-bad drive on 10. After that it was just pretty much that one, little snap hook on 15 and then the first playoff hole which I pulled it.

Q. 16?
JESPER PARNEVIK: 16, that was a 5-wood. That was just -- we waited for about 25 minutes and we were discussing if I could reach -- if it was too much club with the 7-wood and with the wind, we kept going back and forth, and I just eased up on a 7-wood. The wind switched to the left and drifted right into the bushes.
I would say that was more a bad -- I didn't commit myself to that shot. I was more thinking about not running out into the trap than actually committing to a good shot.

Q. Have you ever put one shot down the stretch that you were really proud of?
JESPER PARNEVIK: I would say my birdie on 17 in regulation. That was -- of course, I know we love to get it close but that's a really tough shot because you have that water. If you miss the green by three feet you're on the ride sight, it's going to kick down into that ravine, you're going to make double bogey.
When they put it back right it's a tough pin to go to so to knock it to four feet there when I had to, that was -- I would say that was the best shot of the day.

Q. What did you hit there?
JESPER PARNEVIK: 7-iron, very hard 7-iron. Justin hit 5-iron, I think.

Q. Obviously you didn't win. You talked a lot about getting back into the feel and the emotion of everything, getting back into the fight.
This secures everything for next year, Top 125. Do you take that away from there?
JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah. I didn't really --

Q. It's a hard question to ask.
JESPER PARNEVIK: It's a true question. I did not really want to use my career money list and I mean I've been a pro now for 21 years and I never missed my Tour card either here or in Europe, so even though that should not be the goal, right now that was the goal to get in that 125 even though I could use my all time money list but -- I mean that is -- that's definitely positive from this and now I can -- now I can go out and free-wheel a little bit more the last four tournaments of the year.

Q. Are you going to keep playing?
JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah. I'm going the Vegas tonight.

Q. Maybe a little sting out of losing but not a lot.
JESPER PARNEVIK: No, but I would say he did play well, though. I mean he could easily have shot couple better but, I mean, if he came out and not doing what he did, I could have cruised home no problem because what do we have, we had three shots to third place.
So I mean he did what he had to do. No doubt about it. All credit to him for that. He's good. Like I said, when he gets his putting going, he's tough. He's not very crooked off the tee and doesn't make many mistakes.
I was actually surprised he missed a couple of those putts to win because he usually is very strong in those situations.
NELSON SILVERIO: Couple more.

Q. When you go to sleep tonight will you be thinking about your miraculous shots, how you fought and hung in there today, or will you be lamenting the misses, what could have been?
JESPER PARNEVIK: I don't know what my thinking capacity is going to be tonight, to be honest.

Q. How many beers will you have?
JESPER PARNEVIK: Could be -- might not even remember this happened tomorrow morning.
NELSON SILVERIO: Jesper, thanks.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297