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BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC


January 22, 2006


Jesper Parnevik


LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA

JOHN BUSH: 22-under par, Jesper Parnevik. Thanks for coming by and spending a few minutes with us. Great playing on the weekend. You're going to come up a few strokes short but still a great week for you.

JESPER PARNEVIK: This pretty much says it all about golf here. I was 4-under par with three holes to go in my third round and thinking about where I was going to spend the weekend, or Sunday, actually, because I was putting so bad, and I just couldn't make anything. I was 3-putting every other hole it felt like.

I thought maybe if I have a decent finish on Friday, I might shoot a decent score on Saturday and I might make the cut. That was pretty much my goal.

And I finished with three birdies on Friday, then missed a short birdie putt on 1 straight off the bat, and I thought, here we go again. Then I shoot 10-under after that.

So it was amazing to actually have a chance to win today. I was praying for the wind to be here today, which it actually got up on the back nine pretty hard. I thought that was my only chance. If I could get to I thought 24-, 25-under, I had a good chance today.

It was just fun to be back in the top and having a chance to win the tournament, especially after being as far down the list as you can look pretty much early in the week.

So I had a lot of fun here again. I always enjoy coming here in the desert, and I was actually -- I think it was actually my team of yesterday that got me on that birdie train. Because they were so pumped about having a chance to win their team event, I mean, they started birdie, hole-in-one, birdie, eagle I think in the group. And I thought, if I can just keep up with those guys, you know, I'll do all right.

So it was fun. We shot 12-under yesterday on our front nine as a team. It just fed off me, seeing them try so hard try to win. So I thought, hey, why not try to shoot a really low one today and see what happens.

Q. You did get in position and then 16 came along and you made the bogey there.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, it was very strange. I hit I thought a pretty good drive on 16, but it must have kicked left in the fairway and just trickled into the trap. I had a pretty good lie. We were just considering what club to hit. We decided if I really catch a 6-iron, I had 180 to the pin, it was pretty hard into the wind, but if I still hit a low draw in there, I can feed a 6-iron up to the hole. We were not even considering the lip of the bunker but I must have delofted a 6-iron a little bit because it caught the lip and I was actually lucky enough to go in the water after that. I caught it really solid, and so actually, I don't know what happened there. I was as shocked as --

Q. So you don't think you necessarily hit it thin?

JESPER PARNEVIK: No, I did not hit it thin. That's what I thought was so weird. My caddie Lance said, "That sounded flush." It hit the lip and was strange.

Then I hit a great shot on 17 that hit by the pin and jumped over.

It was fun, I have to say. I enjoyed it here.

Q. How differently did this course play today?

JESPER PARNEVIK: It plays different. I got on it yesterday where it was pretty much dead calm, and it's a huge difference. I mean, some drives today actually went forever downwind. I couldn't believe. I hit a drive on No. 9 that went about -- all of 400 yards I bet. It went past the cart path, and I had about 180 left maybe, which is amazing. It's got to be about 600 yards, that hole.

Same thing on the hole before, No. 6. I hit a driveway down there, I had about 90 yards to the pin. And both those holes, you know, I ripped a drive and a 3-wood on yesterday. And on the fifth hole, I hit driver, 6-iron yesterday, no wind. So the fairways actually got very, very crusty and firm, and so did the greens. It was tougher that way to get close to the holes because they put the pins, of course, in very tough positions today.

Q. It's been a while since you've been in this position I think. Is it something you're doing differently?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Not really. It's just golf. I've been working very hard the last couple of years to get back in the winner's circle, back on top in the world again. But in golf, you never know. I think it's the only sport where you can work ten times harder than you ever have and you get ten times worse than you ever did. In most other sports, when you put the time in, you get better, but golf is not that way.

Q. You've always been known as an eccentric person, but it seems the last couple of years that monicker has died away a little bit. Do you see yourself mellowing a little bit?

JESPER PARNEVIK: No, but like I say, when everybody expects you to wear colorful and be a certain way, I think it's time to change a little bit. So this year it's going to be more of a back to the basic, rock and roll kind of style again. Johnny Cash movie, Walk the Line was a big inspiration for me. I'm pretty much doing black pants all the West Coast now. That was a great movie, I have to say.

Q. Always keep them guessing.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah.

Q. You used to be one of the last guys on the range all the time and you took some time off last year, is this sort of a consciousness shift about how hard you're working?

JESPER PARNEVIK: No. I'm still pretty much one of last guys on the range every week. It's just I made a very good decision last summer and took the whole summer off. Went back to Sweden, spent time with my family, had a great summer. It was the first summer vacation, if you want to put it that way, since I was about 13 years old. It was great.

I used to be able to do whatever I want in the summertime and hang out with your family. Usually that's the most packed part of the year for us with all of the majors. Missing the British Open, one of my favorites tournament, but it was good. I came back really pumped at the PGA and had a good finish last year.

I played well at the beginning of the year, but didn't do anything. I finished 30th, 40th every week and I thought instead of banging my head against the wall, I thought just take some time off.

Q. Does an extended period of time in Europe last year mean an extended period of time this year, maybe for a Ryder Cup push?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Well, we'll see how it goes. I have to say I really enjoyed that summer off last year. Hopefully this year, I'm going to be playing well in the majors at that time of year.

JOHN BUSH: Thanks a lot.

End of FastScripts.
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