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EDS BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP

April 24, 2008

Jesper Parnevik

IRVING, TEXAS

STEWART MOORE: We'd like to welcome the 2000 champion here at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship to the interview room. Difficult scoring day out there apparently, 2-under par 68. You played with Matthew Goggin who's leading right now at 3-under 67. Talk about the conditions.
JESPER PARNEVIK: I mean, it's as tough as I've ever seen the course playing, especially the finishing holes. I mean, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 is as brutal as I ever seen them. I think -- I mean, 14, that hole, you just take par and go. And 15, I think I had a 5-wood into that green. And 16 being the par-5 was also really tough. I can't remember the last time I hit 4-iron into 17 and 18. It was pretty tough out there.
STEWART MOORE: Why don't we briefly go through your birdies and bogeys.
JESPER PARNEVIK: Okay. No. 3, I hit a 7-wood off the tee and then 7-iron that just rolled over the green and I chipped in from about 30 feet, something like that.
No. 8, I hit in the fairway bunker, then hit a 7-iron right of the green. Next bunker, hit that to about eight feet and missed that one.
No. 11, I hit a 4-iron and a wedge to about three feet.
No. 12, I hit driver, 9-iron to about three feet.
And 14, I hit 3-wood, 6-iron to about 25 feet.
And 18, I hit driver, 4-iron just short of the green and chipped it up to about six feet and missed the putt.

Q. How much of these brutal conditions are the redesign or just the weather and the wetness?
JESPER PARNEVIK: I would say it's the weather. Some holes are lengthened a little bit, some green areas a little bit tougher. But when you get gusts between 20 and 40 miles per hour and a lot of it sidewind, you've really got to put the right spin on the ball, which is tough out there, which I managed to do today luckily. But it's definitely tough, yeah.

Q. On 11, how was the wind playing on that, and did you think of giving it a go there?
JESPER PARNEVIK: 11 was pretty much straight across, left-to-right, a little bit in. I had a very solid wedge second shot.
12, just a 9-iron from about 155. Both of them were very tough pin placements, so you've got to be pretty accurate to get it tight on those holes.
Actually a lot of very tough pins today. I was surprised. A lot of them were Sunday pin placements, which I guess they -- it seemed like they wanted to see some high scores today, put it that way.

Q. Have you changed the way you play 11 with the redesign?
JESPER PARNEVIK: No, not really. I've never really gone for the green there.

Q. What's your strategy there?
JESPER PARNEVIK: Not hit it in the water off the tee and then hit it as close as possible (laughter). That's pretty much it. There's only a couple of guys that can knock it on the green there I would say.

Q. How much more difficult is it reading the greens now? D.A. has put a little bit more undulation consistently throughout the course, and I guess some of the greens are a little smaller.
JESPER PARNEVIK: It gives me an advantage of coming here for 10, 12 years, that you know every putt, you know every break. And today I didn't have a clue actually. I actually missed a lot of putts out there. It's always going to be that way when you have -- not a brand new course but brand new greens. For a few breaks you've got to figure out the breaks. Some break more than they look and some don't break at all, so it's going to take a while to figure them out.

Q. Last year I believe was the exact same score first round for you.
JESPER PARNEVIK: I hit the ball much better today.
Last week I played golf with the guys from Shock Hill Lodge in Breckenridge. He's a complete hack monster, but he called me up last night and said he played the round of his life, and I asked him what he did, and he said he found a secret. The way I've been playing lately, of course I had to try it out, and I've never hit the ball as good as I did today.

Q. What was the secret?
JESPER PARNEVIK: It was a really stupid thing. It was the way he had his left big toe at impact (laughter). Maybe it is a secret, I don't know, because it worked. We'll see coming Sunday if it'll last more than one day.

Q. So how should one have his left big toe at impact?
JESPER PARNEVIK: It should be kind of pointed a little bit upwards (laughter).

Q. That worked for you today?
JESPER PARNEVIK: That worked very well, yeah.

Q. So you don't mind implementing something like that into your --
JESPER PARNEVIK: No, and if it does work I'm going to send a few bottles of champagne to those guys at Shock Hill for sure.

Q. Who was the guy that gave you the tip?
JESPER PARNEVIK: It's the guy that runs Shock Hill, John Niemi.

Q. What sort of score does he shoot?
JESPER PARNEVIK: 90s (laughter). But it feels like I've been playing that way, too, so I thought, hey, if it works for him, why not try it out.

Q. You will try anything, won't you?
JESPER PARNEVIK: I will try anything that doesn't make me worse. A lot of times I try things that do make me worse, which is the way golf works, I guess.

Q. Living in Florida, growing up in Sweden, are these conditions -- when you see gusty conditions, do you like that?
JESPER PARNEVIK: When you're striking the ball well, I don't mind windy conditions at all. You have to play well at a British Open, for example, because you have to really put the right spin on the ball. You've got to play with the ball a lot. If you're struggling with your game, you don't want a day like today; you're going to shoot 80 in a heartbeat. That's just the way it is.

Q. Besides leaving you clueless on the greens, how do you feel about the course changes?
JESPER PARNEVIK: I think they were good. Some of the greens are on the edge of being too much going on, but I think most guys liked it. I think the course fits the eye better for most places. It's a cleaner look off the tee and it's a cleaner look into the greens, which looks good.

Q. With the way that your season has been going, how good does it feel to have a round like this? Obviously people don't know how good a score that is today.
JESPER PARNEVIK: Of course it's good. I was actually a little frustrated coming in because I missed a three-footer on 7 and then I bogeyed 8 straight after that, and I had a good chance on 9 for birdie. But like I said, the way I've been playing, I should not be complaining. I don't think I've shot too many rounds in the 60s, especially not in conditions like this.
I mean, if this weather keeps going, I cannot even guess what the winning score is going to be. It's going to be between par and 5-under I would say.

Q. Is this the kind of round that can give you a boost?
JESPER PARNEVIK: I would say so. The way I hit the ball today was a big boost to my confidence, for sure, because I pulled a lot of shots off that I have not pulled off lately.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about what this tournament meant to you, especially winning it?
JESPER PARNEVIK: I mean, in 2000 I had a great year. This was my second win in 2000. You know, just being able to go to the champions dinner from there on with Byron has been a huge treat, listening to his stories and so on. So I mean, it's been great.
I don't know what to say. Of course it's hard to explain Byron, what he's done for this tournament and for the game and so on, but he's such a nice guy. I mean, it was great to be around him.

Q. Do you still have the pink pants you wore that Sunday?
JESPER PARNEVIK: I have them somewhere in my closet, yeah. They were good pants. Good thing you brought that up, yeah.

Q. Are they in your suitcase?
JESPER PARNEVIK: No, I didn't bring them. Maybe I should have. FedEx.
STEWART MOORE: Thanks, Jesper.

End of FastScripts

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