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THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 11, 2004

Jesper Parnevik

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA

JOE CHEMYCZ: We welcome the 2001 Honda Classic Champion, Jesper Parnevik.

6 under par 66 today. Nice playing. Just talk about your round if you would, please.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, I played very solidly. I read a lot of putts right, which is the key around here because you can have some wicked putts.

I got off to a good start with birdie on the first hole from about six feet and just kept momentum going there. Really what took the round off was probably the eagle on No. 5. I had a great, driver, 3 wood there to about 20 feet and holed that one. It was pretty much cruising after that.

JOE CHEMYCZ: 14 of 18 greens today. Good ball striking.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, I actually hit a lot of fringes, too, because I think I putted three times from the fringe. I actually chipped only once.

The key here is to miss the greens in the right position. You can really put yourself behind the 8 ball sometimes if you miss it on the wrong side because it is very severe around the greens.

14, I made birdie. But both Steve Pate and Russ Cochran missed the green and rolled off like that (indicating opposite sides of the green). They were chipping back and forth which is very easily done.

Q. You start the day and everyone had been talking about how hard this course is going to be with the greens. You start out and there's already a 9 under on the board.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, I played a few times here in the off season, so I knew kind of what to expect. I knew they were going to keep the greens not slow but they could not get them up to 12, 13 like they could here because it's going to be completely impossible to play the golf course.

So I played it in these windy conditions. I knew it was going to be not easy, but fairly low scoring, because you can reach most of the par 5s and it was not blowing even nearly as hard as yesterday. They moved the tee up on a couple of par 3s just to have the last group finish today, because the third hole you could be three, four groups waiting otherwise with that green and having a 250 shot into it.

Q. In the gallery there were a couple of kids from Sweden down from Orlando; there was like 40 kids from Sweden in a college group. Is that a new trend or were you kind of alone here when you came over to go to college?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Actually when I came over in college in '85, we kind of started the trend back then for Swedes. It really took off, actually, late 80s, beginning of the 90s. Pretty much that was the thing you did. You went here for college and work on your game because we improved so much when we went over here.

I guess it's still going, because, you know, the weather in Sweden, you can only play for five, six months. So it's perfect to come over here.

Q. How much when you look at the low scores, how much of it is because the absence of wind and how much is course setup and how much is you guys are good players?

JESPER PARNEVIK: I say absence of wind was a big key today. I do not think they want to put the pins where they really can put them where they can make people look really stupid, maybe not the first year.

But, I mean, I don't mind the green areas, actually. The only thing, my point is, I think it lacks a little definition off the tee shot times. You're really not sure what shape or where you want to go off the tee. I think it's an interesting golf course.

Q. How far do you live from here, 20 minutes, 30 minute?

JESPER PARNEVIK: About 15 maybe. Very nice.

Q. Party this week?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, last Tuesday, yeah.

Q. It was last Tuesday?

JESPER PARNEVIK: No. This Tuesday, two days ago.

Q. Forgot the invitation?

JESPER PARNEVIK: There was a big sign in the lockers. (Laughter.) We don't do invitations.

Q. Did you expect the course to play tougher as the week goes on?

JESPER PARNEVIK: I don't know what the weather is going to do.

Q. What about setup, do you think that will make setup any more difficult?

JESPER PARNEVIK: I'm not saying the pins were easy. Just they can put them like really tough if they wanted to.

I mean, you have one guy that played real well, a few 66s. It's not like everybody shot lights out. It definitely needs some wind for it to become real tough, I would say.

Q. Does the course or the shots you had to play remind you of any places that you've played in the past?

JESPER PARNEVIK: I would say the approach shots are more linksy style, the approach shots, because you've really got to think where to feed the ball up and so on, where it's going to feed off.

I would say maybe Pinehurst like. Maybe that's giving it a little bit too much credit. (Laughter.)

Q. You had a little hiccup on one day at Riviera, but otherwise, wonder if you could talk about the progress you've made and how confident that you're headed in the right direction?

JESPER PARNEVIK: I mean, I played very poorly last year, of course. And I think what happens is that your game goes, your putting goes, but then your mind is gone after a while. I think that's the toughest part to get your mind back on track where you actually believe that you can post low scores day after day after day.

When I played bad for so long, even if I shot a low round, in the back of my mind the next day I knew I could shoot a high number or any hole could be high. You kind of expect something bad to happen.

The tough part is I think to really enjoy the game or go out and look forward to going to the first tee. It was complete opposite; I stood over shots and just didn't want to hit them because I knew it could go anywhere. It was more of a hit/hope scenario.

What I tried to do is turn it around more into enjoying the game, even though I was playing badly, and then work on my game at the same time and kind of working on it at that angle. I think when you're playing, waiting for that tournament to turn everything around and then you can enjoy it again, which is, I think, the hard way to do it because it usually never happens.

Q. Where are you in that process?

JESPER PARNEVIK: I'm fairly far, I have to say. Actually, going to Hawaii, I knew I was going to start playing well starting the year. I felt the swing was on the right track and the mind was on the right track. And it's a huge difference when you look forward to go out and play tournaments than being reluctant to even leave your house because you know you'll go home on Friday anyway.

Q. Talk about Carl Pettersson, his game, and what do you know about him?

JESPER PARNEVIK: I don't know a whole lot. He's one of those mystery Swedes that pretty much even the Swedish golfers don't have a clue that he was from Sweden from a while. They found him, over here, actually when they sent a lot of Swedish kids today come over and all of a sudden they had this Carl Pettersson and they found he was Swedish.

I think he came on to the Swedish golf team for a while, but he's kind of a little bit like the Daniel Chopra who is also here. He lived in Australia.

Q. He lived in England for a while.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, a little bit of everywhere. He's a great guy. He calls himself the only Swedish redneck on the planet. (Laughter.) And it's definitely true.

Q. When he speaks Swedish, do you detect any of that North Carolina in his accent or is he pretty pure?

JESPER PARNEVIK: He's still pretty good. In the beginning, he had a tough time he admitted, but now he's pretty good.

Q. What are the traits of a Swedish redneck?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Well, I think it's more the case that we don't have many in Sweden. He definitely admitted that he is one. So that would make him the only one. But he's a great guy, great attitude, good player. He was up there in the British Open a few years ago with a chance to win. He's one of those guys, great putter with his broomstick. So when he plays pretty well, he shoots low scores.

Q. Since you're playing obviously much better and heading in the right direction, have you allowed yourself to think about Ryder Cup?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, definitely. I think the more Ryder Cups you play, the more you want to be a part of them because they are so different from any other event. It's just a lot of fun.

When I played my first Ryder Cup, I didn't understand how Woosie, for example, was so eager to get on the team because he's been on a lot of teams and that was his main goal the last few months before the Ryder Cup was to get on that team. I couldn't figure out why.

But when you've been on a few times, it's definitely something you don't want to miss. It's very special, a lot of fun.

Q. Where are you in the World Ranking and how often do you check it?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Well, I actually don't know really where I am. Tough part for me is going to move up is that I played so poorly last year, and I played a lot of poor tournaments as well, so I have a huge divider with pretty much zero points.

So even if I play really well this year I'm not going to like shoot down the list; it's going to take some time. But I think what they do in Europe is you accumulate points.

Q. Just straight points.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, so I should be doing fairly well there right now.

Q. If you don't make it on points, what do you think you have to do this year to get Bernhard's attention?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Just keep playing the way I am, I would say. I have a pretty solid record in the Ryder Cup. You know, I was on the same team as Bernhard last year. But I've definitely got to keep on playing the way that I have been. I've been picked actually, the last three times I've been a wild card so I've never qualified for one team so far.

Q. What was your first one, Valderrama?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, I got picked there, too. I was the old big issue there. Remember they kicked Miguel Martin off the team to have another pick. (Laughter.)

Q. Do you think it's a benefit because Bernhard is over here now that you're over here; that you have a better chance maybe of being picked as a wild card versus if you were one of the guys playing in Europe?

JESPER PARNEVIK: I don't think that matters that much. You know, experience has a lot to do within the Ryder Cup. So that would help me more I think as being picked than being close to him over here. Because I think he's more of a pure numbers guy. He's very organized.

Q. When people talk about the unity of Europe, is that because of the travel or the culture?

JESPER PARNEVIK: The travel, definitely. I think the camaraderie is about the same on both tours. It's just that it's so much more gathered in Europe. You only have one hotel every week everybody stays at. Here, you have 40, 50 hotels everybody stays at. So you pretty much never see each other here the same way you do in Europe. If you go downstairs in the hotel in Europe, there's going to be 30, 40 guys at the bar just chatting and so on.

The American side, it's the same thing when they go over there and play. Like Hank Kuehne a few years ago, very fast became part of that routine.

But during the Ryder Cup, I don't know really what it is because, you know, the last few times we really shouldn't have a chance on paper. If you go to Belfry, none of us were playing well going in there and somehow we elevated each other's game to play great. So I don't know what it is.

Q. Not to diminish your guys' accomplishments, but Hal was in here yesterday seeming to go say that at times, the American team wasn't as driven or as focused as your teams have been. Do you sense that when you were playing?

JESPER PARNEVIK: I don't think so, but as a team maybe, but not as individuals I don't think. I think Tiger tries just as hard in Ryder Cup as he does anywhere else.

Q. I think Hal's point, actually, was they didn't start thinking about the Ryder Cup until they got there and then they tried their hardest, whereas you guys maybe put a little more into it going into it and that's what he was trying to change. He thinks that they have been so busy that they put off really getting into it.

JESPER PARNEVIK: See, last Ryder Cup, Sam brought the whole team together for a few days in the middle of summer. He didn't know the team but he brought them together to play four ball and best ball and all of that alternate shot, just for the team to get together, which was probably a great idea. Because that's where he actually picked his pairings, because there were a few pairings that he tried out that I never thought was going to be good pairings, but they just turned out great.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Thank you.

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