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BELL CANADIAN OPEN

September 11, 2004

Jesper Parnevik

OAKVILLE, ONTARIO

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Jesper Parnevik, thank you for joining us for a couple minutes here this afternoon. A little bit of an up-and-down day for you, but you're still going to the final round in a three-way tie for 2nd, three shots behind Mike. Start with some opening comments about the day.

JESPER PARNEVIK: It was a very different day to say the least. I started on 1. Being the professional I am, I stood over the ball and had it a little bit slippery in my right hand, and I thought I'd swing a little bit smoother, and I hit it 80 yards right into the televisions, never to be found again. They said it ended up in one of the Port-o-lets, but we never saw the ball. I bogeyed that hole, then started horrendously on the front nine which carried over to the other guys because they putted poorly, as well. It was a very different day. None of us could do anything right it seemed like. Both me and Vijay hit it in the water on 11, which is hard to explain.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: You finished up with a birdie on 18, hit it just by the cart path. Talk about what happened there.

JESPER PARNEVIK: That was a good up-and-down. That was in a downslope in the rough, had to go over the bunkers, but it was such a tight lie that it was either going to go into the bunker or hit it a little bit too hard into the water, so I was very happy to walk away with a 4 there.

Q. Is not the best thing that you can say after a day like that is that you didn't really damage your chances all that much?

JESPER PARNEVIK: No, I'm very pleased to be 3 behind Mike. Mike played very solidly. He only made a couple of mistakes I would say, but he didn't hole many putts, and the rest of the field is very glad he didn't because he could have run away with it today, no problem.

Q. How crazy do you think this place is going to be tomorrow with Mike in contention?

JESPER PARNEVIK: I mean, I didn't know that no Canadian has won it in 50 years, and this being the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Open, he has a lot of pressure on his shoulders, put it that way. I recognize that from Sweden the week I played there. I was the first one to win the Scandinavian Masters. You get pulled by the crowd and you're very energized, but they expect nothing less than that first spot.

Q. In the final grouping on a weekend, usually there's a lot of energy going on out there. It would seem to me that your threesome was kind of flat. Amongst you could you feel anything out there, the three of you?

JESPER PARNEVIK: We felt the crowd. The crowd was very loud and energetic. The crowd has always been great here in Canada, but I don't know what it was. It was very strange. I mean, it started badly; me and Vijay bogeyed the first hole and Vijay three-putted the next, I missed a few short putts and I three-putted the 4th, and it was very strange. Maybe Mike seeing us struggle and him not being as aggressive as maybe he could have been otherwise, but it was great. For the group to shoot 1-under -- I don't even know what the group shot. Vijay probably was a few over. It's hard to explain. I don't know what happened. I think it was the start that kind of carried over the whole round.

Q. Are you the kind of guy who likes to play with the guy that you're chasing, or does it not matter to you?

JESPER PARNEVIK: I mean, I like the crazy environment we played in today. I like when the crowd gets into it. It's very loud and very energetic. In that sense I thought when I holed my putt on 18 I would get in with Mike tomorrow, but it's going to be me and Vijay again.

Q. Because Vijay did mention he likes to play with the guy he's chasing; he likes to keep him in sight. Are you the same?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, especially here in Canada. It's going to be a lot of fun playing with Mike tomorrow. I wish I was in that group, but me and Vijay are going to chase him from behind.

Q. I was just curious if you were surprised at all by the lack of overall lower numbers that weren't being shot today, considering the conditions and not that strong a wind?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, I was surprised to see that nobody went really low and caught up with us. You know, on the weekend on the PGA TOUR they're always going to have the pins a lot tougher than they were Thursday and Friday. But still, it was playing a lot harder today than it was yesterday, except for the pins, that is, so I'm a little bit surprised that nobody shot a low score today.

Q. Secondly, can you ever recall as a professional a more adventurous round with very, very little repercussions? I mean, it was very bizarre.

JESPER PARNEVIK: It was a very bizarre day. Like I said, losing my ball on 1 and me and Vijay hitting it in the water on 11, it was -- I don't know what to say. I mean, it pretty much summed it up on 18. Vijay hits two great shots and almost ended up making bogey on the last. It was that kind of day. Everything that could have gone wrong pretty much went wrong. Nobody really recovered. Vijay I have to say made a pretty good comeback after that 7 he made on 11 with a few birdies coming in.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If we could touch on your round and we'll take a couple more questions. We talked about No. 1, and then you made another bogey on No. 4.

JESPER PARNEVIK: No. 4 I hit a good drive and a wedge and I three-putted, two bad putts.

No. 5, I hit a sand wedge to about eight feet, made birdie.

No. 11, I hit drive in the right bunker and I tried to hit a wedge. I got a little bit greedy. I should have maybe hit 9, made sure it was long, but I hit a wedge a touch heavy I would say, then a great up-and-down.

13, I hit it in the left bunker in two, and I hit a bunker shot to about a foot.

Par 3, 15, I think me and Vijay hit it to about three feet there, both of us, 9-iron.

16, I hit it right, then I hit it right, then I chipped it short and missed the putt. Bad hole.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We talked about 18, as well. We'll take one final question.

Q. What's your mindset going into tomorrow then? Is it aggressive? Do you wait to see how it's going to unfold?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Well, the fortunate thing is I hit a lot of very good iron shots which I was very pleased with. My shot into 2, 3, especially the 3rd hole was a great 6-iron I hit in there, and a lot of my irons felt really good, I just didn't make birdies. But I need to find a couple more fairways tomorrow. I've been driving the ball really well the first few rounds. I don't know really what happened today. I hit some wicked ones today actually.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Jesper Parnevik, thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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