THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY SOUTHERN COMPANY AND MERCEDES-BENZ

October 31, 1998

Jesper Parnevik

JESPER PARNEVIK: Thank you, yeah.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Play was just as tough today as any other day. Difference in my round was the few times I missed the green today, I managed to make it up-and-down, twice from a fairly tough position. No. 3, I was left of the pin, which was not a good place to miss the green. I played solid on the back nine. I played well the first two days as well. I think I got it to a few under par every day on the back nine, but kind of dropped back in the end. It was nice to finish with a birdie today.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Hit a 4-iron to about ten feet, then holed the putt. It's an easy hole (laughter).

JESPER PARNEVIK: Well, like Justin said, it's a smaller target today because you have to pretty much pitch it in that opening. But it's nicer to be able to hit the 4-iron instead of trying to bust a 2-iron to get to the front edge.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I had 202 to the pin.

JESPER PARNEVIK: About 235, 240. Playing around probably 250.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, around there.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Definitely feels like the US Open. It's very tiring. I mean, you got to be focused the whole way around. I think it's very important to stick to your game plan. I mean, the few times I decided to go for something or tried to get shots back, that's when I ended up with another bogey. You know, it's so hard to find a balance between when to be aggressive and when to lay back, because it's so important to hit the fairways and greens. But at the same time, you have to take advantage of some of the pins. When they're in good spots, you've got to go for it.

JESPER PARNEVIK: No, I haven't yet. But it would be a few.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I think so, but I haven't decided which ones I'm going to play yet. But probably definitely be over for the PGA, around that time. Maybe play one or two there. I'll do my normal British Open, around the Brit Open Tournament, Scandinavian Masters, maybe a few more.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Well, the first few years I played on this Tour, I was a full member at both places. I flew back and forth all the time. It was fun. Even if I had a good year here and good year in Europe, I would finish in 40th place on both Money Lists, which didn't do me much good. I didn't get into any of the Majors, didn't get into US Open or PGA or anything like that. That's when I decided to play a little bit more over here, tried to get in the Top 30, and that way get into all the tournaments I want to play.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I hope so. I mean, it's kind of a forced situation because I want to play on the Ryder Cup, of course. That was probably one of the thrills of my career so far. I would love to be back there. Next year the rules are I have to be a full member on the European Tour and play the full schedule, so I'll try to get on the team on my own, definitely.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Well, he's a pretty aggressive player, though. I mean, but that's the thing, though. He's also a very unafraid player, so he's never going to back down or try to secure his lead or anything like that. I mean, he's going to try to birdie every hole. His mind set is so good, if something like yesterday happens, if he makes four or five bogeys, it doesn't worry him because in his mind he's thinking he can birdie every hole on the back nine anyway, so it doesn't matter.

JESPER PARNEVIK: No. I'm going to play a few. I'm going to play the Johnnie Walker Super Tour in Asia. You travel to four different countries in a week, play 18 holes in each country. You travel about 70 hours in one week. That's a good one (laughter). Then I go to Sun City, which was a good tournament. Then just a few small things, maybe Callaway commercials, things like that.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I mean, it's still not like it used to be, if you put it that way. I remember the first few years when I played in Europe, I mean, European Tour ended probably mid October somewhere, picked up around February, which was perfect. Now, even though I'm going to have three weeks off probably around Christmas, it still would be nice to have a few more weeks, just to build something up. I'm sure, you see when you see Greg Norman, when he's coming back, he's not been slacking, lying on the sofa. He's been working out hard. That's probably what most players would like to do, really get onto a fitness schedule, or just do things to be really fresh when you start the year. Definitely I'm going to play a few less than I did last year. In that way, it's going to be nice, yes.

JESPER PARNEVIK: If I'm going to play the American majors?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, yeah, all of them. All the World Tour events.

JESPER PARNEVIK: In what way?

JESPER PARNEVIK: I mean, it's a great golf course. The rough is so tough, I mean, it forces a lot of players to play very much defense. I mean, maybe they didn't have to have as of deep rough as they have, but it's playing tough. I have to say that. I would not say it's as tough as Congressional, but it's somewhere up there, for sure.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah. I talked to her about it. I was supposed to play with her. I was supposed to play with her last year as well. I got invited now to Sun City two years in a row. I have to turn her down. But I think she looked around for a few players, they were already booked. She decided not to play the tournament. And I think the tournament wanted her to play, and they said, "You can pretty much play with whoever you want to." None of the guys wanted to play with her. She just asked her husband. I'm sure they're going to have a lot of fun. I don't know if they're going to win.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Well, he's about a five, I would say, five handicap. With her being five shots better than all the other girls, should be pretty even (laughter).

JESPER PARNEVIK: I can see his point. Still, I can't, because -- how should I put it? Then you would have guys who come over here and play the Majors and those World Tour events, they would miss out on tournaments in Europe. So that's not fair either. The Ryder Cup, all the Majors in the US count toward the Ryder Cup points. If you would like to take that away from the World Tour events, it's going to be the same situation there. I don't know why -- I think the reason he doesn't want it to count is if someone wins two or three World Tour events, they going to win the Money List over in Europe, it's going to kind of be over, which is a valid point. But I still think it's the fairest way to do it, is to make it count. I mean, any guy who wins two, three Majors, or a few World Tour events, they deserve to win the European Money List, I think.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Well, it's only going to be five, six players from the European Tour qualifying anyway. I mean, it's not like it's going to be a bunch of guys getting free money to push away all the newcomers. I mean, I don't think that's going to be the case at all. I think it's the guys that pretty much deserve to be there, like Monte Monty, Westwood, Clark, Langer, all those guys. Those are the guys that are going to play in these tournaments. They would be up there at the end of the year anyway.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Thank you.