THE RYDER CUP MATCHES

September 24, 2002

Jesper Parnevik

GORDON SIMPSON: Jesper, your thoughts on the course, at the De Vere Belfry.

JESPER PARNEVIK: It's pretty tough. The setup is tough, for being a European-type golf course, I think it looks more like a U.S. Open-type golf course.

GORDON SIMPSON: Is that going to make any difference at the end of the day.

JESPER PARNEVIK: At the end of the day, whatever team plays best is going to win. I don't know. It's been fairly calm now. I hear the forecast is for rough weather, which is probably going to be in our favor.

Q. Jesper, considering you come into this event not having played your best golf. Do you feel extra pressure this week?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Not yet. Usually, though, I have to say I've struggled with my game the last two Ryder Cups, and I've been -- was very nervous about it coming into the Ryder Cup then, and did very well. So I think that has relaxed me a little bit this time, because usually when you step on a tee in this event, it really doesn't matter how you've done beforehand, it's more how you can cope with the crazy stuff that goes on with Ryder Cup. So far I've been able to do it. We also talked to Sam and said you guys have to be very honest about how you feel, about their form, and so on, when they do the pairings. So we'll see what happens.

Q. Can you talk about today, and your teammate and the match and who won and lost and by how much?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Me and Paul played Sergio and Bernhard. And we tied the first nine holes, none of us really played that great, I would say. But Sergio really started playing well on the back 9 and they beat us 3-up on the back nine, even though I birdied the last two, but it wasn't that bad again. But Sergio started playing well again. And Bernhard was really solid, as well.

Q. (Inaudible.)

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, it was. I think this was the first time Sergio saw the golf course, so he was trying to figure things out, where to hit it on certain holes and so on. Like on 18 he was surprised how far left he could go, for example. And a few holes like that, when you've never played here before, it's tough to visualize a shot or really see where you're going, because it looks like you should hit it in some other direction than you really should sometimes.

Q. We haven't seen you in Europe for a while. But there was speculation coming across the Atlantic, that you had quite severe putting problems, even that you had the yips. Can you tell us about that and if that's been sorted out now?

JESPER PARNEVIK: I did putt not so good for a while. I've played fairly well, and like I said didn't score very well. I had rounds where I only made one birdie, and sometimes I was shut out. But I really worked hard on my putting, and to be honest with you right now, it seems like it was the best part of my game today. So my putting really feels where I want it, because in this event with all the pressure when you're standing over putts, that's the part of the game you really want to feel good about, because you're going to have 3 -, 4 -, 5-footers, and you don't want bad thoughts on your mind.

Q. And if your putting is back, you played so well with Sergio the last time, would you be hopeful the two of you would play together at some point in this match?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Today I didn't drive it very well, so that's golf for you. We'll see. Like I said, we've got to figure out who is playing well, and it looks like Sam is trying out some alternatives, like Sergio and Langer were paired together today. I would love to play with Sergio, but we also have to pick the guys that are on form, and playing their best right now.

Q. You mentioned how well Sergio played the back 9. Considering how well he played in '99 at the Ryder Cup and what he's done since then, what do you make of his future and his importance, in particular, to this team?

JESPER PARNEVIK: He's going to be -- he's our number one player, of course. So I'm a hundred percent sure he's going to play five matches, which is a big responsibility. I did it last time, and it's very tiring. I mean I remember at Valderrama when we played there, when we had bad weather, we might have had three or four minutes between rounds, you had a quick bite of a sandwich and you stepped on the first tee again. You got to the golf course at 6:00 in the morning and left at 8:30 at night. It is tough, but the way he's playing right now, I think he's not going to feel very tired, because he's so into these matches.

Q. Is he a guy who's capable of taking over this team like Seve did years ago?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Oh, yeah. You also have to remember he's only 22 or 23, whatever he is. But he's going to be the guy that has to play well on the team, if we want to win it this time, definitely. But I think he's up for the task, though.

Q. You were talking about your putting and how hard you'd worked on it. How many putters have you tried out this year?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Wow, I'll say my average is about two or three per tournament, which is not very good.

Q. How many have you brought over to here?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Actually only five or six. But I actually got rid of five of them two days ago, so I'm sticking with only one yesterday and today, which is very good news.

Q. Have you put the others out of reach? Have you thrown them in the water or what have you done with them?

JESPER PARNEVIK: No, but I'm going to stick with the one I have, because my putting feels very good.

Q. What is it?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Because I'm putting well -- it's funny -- it was Mark O'Meara that figured out what I was doing wrong. He was looking at my putting in Toronto just a few weeks ago. I couldn't figure out why -- even the good putts I felled didn't feel very good. And he looked at me, and said, "Aim for this hole," and he said, "Okay, where are you aiming?" And I said, "I'm aiming left lip, but you're aiming at the cup outside right." No way, I can't be doing that. We checked it. So I've been aiming way to the right with the club head, the face of the putter open. And with all the practice I've put in I've developed kind of a pull stroke just to be able to make it again. As soon as I started -- I had to practice hard to look at how the shot played for me, but it got my stroke back to where it was again. It was a simple thing like that, but sometimes the simple things are the tough ones to figure out.

Q. Could you take us through your experience with the earthquake the other night and what you thought was going on?

JESPER PARNEVIK: I was very happy to find out it was an earthquake. And being in Manhattan when September 11th happened, I still have very paranoid thoughts. So that was my very first thought, actually, because it was a big bang. My bedroom table just kept smacking into the window, and the bed was all over the place. I've never been in an earthquake before, but it was very scary, I thought.

Q. Some said you ran outside naked, is that right?

JESPER PARNEVIK: I did, actually, just to see what part of the building was blown away or where the fire was. But that is true, yeah.

Q. Bernhard Langer in his 10th Ryder Cup, how special a person -- a player is Bernhard Langer in your opinion?

JESPER PARNEVIK: I think he's incredible. To keep -- to have been that good for such a long time and he had a few years where he struggled, but to be able to come back again to be one of the best in the world is -- you have to realize it's very hard to keep your -- not only your focus, but your motivation for that long of a time. He has family, he has all the business on the side and all that, but he's still very strong that he wants to improve everything, keep competitive. And I played with him today and he is a very impressive guy. He doesn't leave anything to chance, put it that way.

Q. Did you actually fear it was the yips, and how scary was that?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Well, no, the yips was more of a rumor. I did have occasions where I did -- I asked my caddy one time, what it looked like when I putted. He said, it looked like someone -- well, I have to rephrase that, because I can't say what he said (laughter). But he said it in a nice way, like you're electrocuted every time you make contact, which is not a pretty sight. But that was just short times where -- because I guess it was because I was aiming so far off the target that, it just felt that I had no chance of making it and it just became a stab at it.

Q. Just to follow up on Bernhard, talk about the putt in '91. A lot of people it could have affected for the rest of their careers, just how he was able to handle that?

JESPER PARNEVIK: That shows how strong he is. He had a putt that he wanted to make more than anything, and I'm sure he hit a good putt, as well. He just misread it a little bit. But, you know, some guys would probably have been affected for the rest of their career, maybe not have been able to play again. But he went out the next week and won. And that's just how he is. He's a very, very special competitor that way.

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