FEDEX ST. JUDE CLASSIC

June 8, 2001

Jesper Parnevik

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, I'm playing well. I've been working on a few things. On my swing, of course, trying to fine-tune it for next week. I hate going into a major in search of a game. I would rather go to a major and knowing what I'm doing on the golf course. So I've been working very, very hard the last few weeks. I've probably hit balls for five or six hours a day, and so I feel pretty good out there. Still a few small things that I'm not pleased with, but I hopefully can work that out over the weekend.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I think I came to the course around 6:30 and left about 8:30, maybe. Hitting balls for six hours after I played.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Both, yes and no. If I'm striking the ball really well, I might not spend that much time on the range. But when I really want to work on something, for me, that's the only way to do it, just to hit a lot of balls and get comfortable with it. When you are trying to fine-tune something, it's really heart hard to play a tournament doing it, if you don't hit a lot of balls at the same time. It has to be automatic, especially for a major, I think.

JESPER PARNEVIK: A lot of that. Trying to work on my iron game, mostly to get the distance control better. Trying to shorten the swing a little bit. Get more distance control that way. I started to hit my irons too far, I felt, to get really good control over how far I was hitting the clubs. Sure, for next week, that's what I'm going to need, to be able to shape the ball into the greens and hit them in the right spots. Of course, I've hit a lot of 5-woods and 3-woods off the tee this week to get that part of the game going, because the U.S. Open, you just have to hit the fairways.

JESPER PARNEVIK: No, every tournament I go to, I go to play well and win. Don't get me wrong in that sense. But I would probably not -- now, this week, I'm working on the swing, so that's why I'm practicing so hard after the rounds, even though I do that on normal weeks, as well, but maybe not to the extent that I spend 14 hours on the golf course.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Of course, it would mean a lot to me. I've been close three times in the British Open. Never really been up there in the U.S. Open. Most of the time that's because I have not been driving it well enough to be in the fairway. You know, that's what I really want to sort out this year, to keep myself in position to be able to go at the greens. And normally I would just have to chip out and try to save par too many times, and that becomes very struggling over 72 holes.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I've never been here before, no.

JESPER PARNEVIK: So far, very wet. (Laughter.) But, no, we're having a great time here. Johansson from Sweden is also here. Yeah, we are having a good time.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, he's dating my little sister, so that's pretty much.

JESPER PARNEVIK: No, I didn't see it. But that happens a lot.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I think that's always going to be there. I've been known to try a lot of things. I was into yoga, medication, a lot of things like that. You know, when J. Lindeberg came around and wanted me to wear his clothing line, I thought it sounded like a great idea to get more style and fashion back into golf. But, of course, that, like you say, is going to take most of the focus, even when I win tournaments. Usually that's mostly what the questions are about, what I was going to wear tomorrow, not what I'm doing now to play better or whatever.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I don't think it's ever been -- the last few years when I was part of it, it was that heated between the players. That's more the crowd that make it into that. But at the same time, I wanted to be pretty fired up in the crowd. I mean if you take away the crowd from the Ryder Cup, it's not much of an event anymore. I just feel the crowd should applaud or could applaud when players hit it in the traps or hit it in the water, whatever, really root for their team and be really loud. It's just when it gets personal and they start shouting things to one specific player; that's when I think it is getting out of hand. Colin Montgomerie got a lot of really bad stuff going on last year. He needed, I think, three or four bodyguards to play the last round, which is a little bit too much.

JESPER PARNEVIK: It's hard to get a really fair view of it because it's been so wet, and we've been placing the ball. Usually I hear this course is pretty dry and the fairways run pretty good off the tee and so on. So it's really hard to judge it from this week. I mean, it's been a tougher week for everyone, for the volunteers, the PGA TOUR, the greenskeepers and everybody. So I'm happy we are actually playing, because it was raining a lot the other day.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah. I got off to a great start. I hit a really long drive on 1. I just had a little sand wedge in there. Knocked that to about one foot. Then I hooked my second shot on the third hole. I went for it in two, left of the green. Hit a great chip shot to about six feet and holed that. Then I missed a green right on the par 3 and chipped in. The chip, I was just right over the green, so probably 15 yards. Next hole, I hit a driver, 4-iron, back edge of the green and 2-putted from there. No. 10, I hit 5-wood, 7-iron to about ten feet. On 12, I hit driver, sand wedge to about 12 feet. Then I had a few chances coming in, but did not make any.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, that's tough when you are standing on the range and you know you've got to shoot 60 just to tie the guy. That's a pretty tough feeling. That's why it's so important to get off to a good start. If you start off with a bogey, you pretty much feel the tournament is over almost. I remember when I won Greensboro, Dudley Hart left the course Thursday leading by one, and when he came back Friday afternoon to play, he was ten behind. So that has a similar thing and it's hard.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I do, yeah. It's only one guy up there. Bob is 15( -under). Four shots, I don't think, is a very big lead over two rounds. It would have been different if I was 25th and four shots behind, a little bit tougher. When it is only one guy, anything can happen. Even in nine holes, anything can happen. I feel it's at least ten, 15 guys that can still win the tournament if they play well.