GREATER GREENSBORO CHRYSLER CLASSIC

April 19, 2000

Jesper Parnevik

JESPER PARNEVIK: Probably the best I've ever had. Three years ago, no win; I think I had five second runner-up finishes three years ago. This year I got the win in the Bob Hope. And probably playing as well as I ever have before. So, you know, looking forward to every week right now.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Well, I mean, it's something I've been thinking about for a long time. I've been wearing contacts probably for 20 years, and I have astigmatism as well, but not strong enough for me to -- how should I put it -- I need hard contacts to correct the astigmatism. And with my allergies, it's very hard to wear hard contacts. I always wear soft contacts, and I wasn't happy with the way I was seeing, anyway. Weeks like this week, last week, Augusta, the pollen is very bad. So I always struggled getting, you know, seeing well. It's always been -- I don't know how to describe it -- sometimes it's almost like seeing underwater and you have to rub your eyes. And then it gets clear a few seconds (inaudible). So last week I talked to (inaudible) who is a physician of LASIK surgery. And the doctor he's been going to, Dr. Whitten up in Washington seems to be the best one in the United States. So I decided on Thursday last week I'm going to do it on Monday. It was a very spur-of-the-moment decision, but I had enough with my contacts. And I'm very, very glad I did it now. It's amazing technology would be -- you know, I did it on Monday night, and yesterday I saw perfectly, and no irritation, no discomfort, nothing. And I'm just amazed.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, I hit balls. You know, I'm seeing a lot better than I did before with my contacts now. And like I said, my eyes don't bother me like I expect them to do. It's an unbelievable feeling, actually.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, I was -- not bad, I was around -2.00. And like I had no idea. I just thought I was so unbelievably bad before he did his eye surgery. I think he was minus 11. He could see a few inches.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, I think he must have, yeah.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, he did a lot of the golfers, Dr. Whitten up in Washington. Everybody I've talked to has been very, very happy. I know Fannie went to the same guy and a lot of other players. They had pretty much the same experience I had, perfect vision the next day, no irritation. Fred Funk did his I think on the one before Kemper last year, and I think he was leading the tournament after the first round. The only thing that bothered him was after he came back to hit balls that morning (inaudible). He played great golf since then.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I did it not only because of the golf, of course, I mean -- the mornings and the nights now, it's kind of weird to just before, brush your teeth, and you usually have to fuss around with your contacts, the liquid, put them in. And now I just wake up in the morning and I see perfect. I think on the golf course I think reading clubs would help a lot, depth perception, I think, as far as being there. And just to see well all the time without having to -- the pollen, rubbing your eyes and so on. I know Duval, for example, he wears glasses all the time because he gets a lot of pollen in his contacts. And I'm pleased with everything so far.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Oh, yeah, of course you're nervous, I mean it's your eyes. And that's why I wanted the best guy to do it. And I mean he took a lot of time. I went in Monday morning, did a lot of testing, came back Monday afternoon, did a lot of testing again, and then did it Monday afternoon -- Monday night. And then come back Tuesday morning for more tests, the checkup tests. You're worried when you're lying there, of course, because they don't really -- it's not like they strap you up a hundred percent. You would have the same feeling when you're standing on a very tall building and you want to jump over, but you don't really want to jump over. And that's the way it is when you're lying there. You're so focused on staying still with your head, and then you have a bad thought like you want to move around. So that's the only thing. You have to be really focused on this little light, and you have to lie still. When you're the most nervous, that's when you would get a twitch or something like that.

JESPER PARNEVIK: It only takes about ten seconds per eye.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I don't know yet. I still haven't putted yet. So hopefully.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Oh, yeah. I don't think I'm going to putt better than last year. I hope I would, but that was a once-in-a-lifetime putting experience I had here last year.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yes, I always wanted to do it. But I was concerned, like everybody else. It's your eyes. What if something goes wrong? And I think after playing Augusta, you start like, no, this is enough, because so many times you stand over a shot and you're blurry in one eye and you kind of hit anyway, because you know it's not going to clear up straight away and things like that. I talked to Fred, I said: "Okay, book me in for Monday." And then that was it.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I think it was on Wednesday or Thursday last week.

JESPER PARNEVIK: He got to be close friends with this doctor. I mean he went in there last year, like I said, and was really pleased with his surgery, perfect vision. I think he's at 20/15 like I am now, 20/15. I think the biggest deal is the astigmatism, which you get rid of that as well, which I didn't correct with my contacts before.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Oh, yeah, anyone who doesn't wear glasses cannot imagine how bad his eyesight was. Because you see those letters, and the rows, you're supposed to read the fourth row. And I think Tiger had a letter E that was about this big, that he could not read from about two feet away. So that's pretty bad. To go from there to perfect vision is pretty amazing.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I think it's going to be a different golf course this year, definitely. This course usually plays fast, and you can run the ball. You can hook it around a few corners and the ball is going to run away another 50 yards, and that's going to be a big difference this year because the ball is not going to play. I think the course is set up to be a running type of golf course or the design is a running type of golf course. But it might favor a little bit longer hitters this week because the par-5s are going to be a lot harder to reach in three and so on. Last year I only hit two fairways on the weekend with my driver. So I guess driving is not the key around here. But even though the rough was very high and tall last year, and it's the same thing this year.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I think these days a lot of players are looking for traditional, I mean this is a very traditional course with the trees and design and so on. We don't want to play TPC type golf courses week in and week out when you only have water and green then a little bit of (inaudible). I mean I love the old traditional designs. I mean both times, great golf courses with perfect set up for the Ryder Cup there. I love those type golf courses, and it seems like a lot of players would like to see a lot more of the traditional type golf courses played on the PGA TOUR.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I usually play well when I have to defend the title. For me golf is so much the (inaudible) and the good memories. Anyone that plays golf knows that you can walk up to 18 holes and only remember the bad stuff. Usually when you win an event you have a lot of good memories from there. I usually do very well when I try to defend the title. I think last year I finished second at the Scandinavian Masters. The Scottish Open I think I finished second or third when I defended there. But I mean, to win two years in a row is always a tough task. You need a lot of breaks to win any tournament on Tour these days. (Inaudible).

JESPER PARNEVIK: Oh, I don't know. I'm really worried I'm going to go out there now and kind of frown a little bit about what I did last year, because I think I was something like 24-under par after 51 holes, which is amazing, because I think it was me, Furyk, and Maggert right there then at the end. The rest of the guys were like 10, 15 shots behind. And that's very common on the PGA TOUR to do that. I remember Dudley Hart was leading after the first day; he played in the morning. I think he shot 66, and he left the golf course around 2:00 o'clock in the afternoon leading by 1, and came back Friday afternoon 10 behind. So the scores we shot last year were unbelievably low, I thought. It's not that easy of a golf course.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, I would think so. I mean I don't know all the facts, but I could see this tournament won around 10-under par, no problem. And I think this course last year was just strange.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Obviously, I like them. I liked them last year. I like a little undulation on the greens. For me, it's easier to hole a putt when I have a little bigger of a break than the Ryder Cup putting surface where everything looks straight. I like to see some movement to the greens.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Of course he's one of the best players in the world. I don't know what the rankings say, but everybody knows that. But like I said, Tiger, what he's done last year, winning all these tournaments, you still need a few breaks. The one he got at Pebble, of course he made a big charge, but he also had to make a lot of bogeys to help him and so on. And Davis Love has been up there a lot of times. And sometimes it just won't happen. A lot of tournaments you walk into the last day and you played so-so, but other guys play worse, and then you win. And sometimes you're out playing great the last day, but somebody is playing better. I wouldn't be that concerned if I was him. I don't think he is. He's up there enough times to know that anytime he's going to win again.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Oh, definitely. Oh, of course that would happen. That's the only enemy he would have I think is himself to -- when you're in that situation to try too hard. I remember Phoenix Open was my first win over here. And the year before that, I had five runner-ups, and I found myself pressing a little too hard when I was in the situation. And that last round of Phoenix, I just more had the attitude: Just let it go; see what happens. And even though it was very tight at the end of the tournament, there were about five, ten guys who could win the tournament. I made three birdies the last five to win. And -- but I more let it happen than to try to force it upon myself, which is easier said than done sometimes. But that usually is the key.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, LiFizz is doing great.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yeah, but it doesn't taste like Alka-Seltzer at all. Alka-Seltzer is a very, very old technology and flavor. They tried to put in flavors in Alka -Seltzer but nothing like we do. Ours are more -- very good tasting, and more soft drink, more lemonade type of flavors. We have strawberry, raspberry, lemon-lime, orange, whatever you want. In Europe it's pretty much the way to take vitamins, is taking an effervescent. I grew up taking them that way. So I was just amazed when I came over here and it wasn't around. We're doing very well. It's a little bit different when you endorse a product and when you start your own company with a product, because you have a little more pride and so on when it's your own product. And that's why it feels more gratifying when I get letters from customers that it changed their lives, they feel so much better, and they can finally take vitamins that they couldn't take the pills before and so on. It makes me feel better. And I try harder to improve the product and so on. Like I said, it's my personal company, so it's very close to me.

JESPER PARNEVIK: It's a very tough situation, because you never want to turn down an autograph. Just when you see the same guy six, seven, eight times in a row come back for a new ball or new photo to sign or something, I usually sign them anyway, but it's a little bit frustrating when you know (inaudible.) The bad thing is when they send kids up -- I know some place else -- "that's enough, I've already given you five autographs." And they send kids up next time to collect autographs for them. That's when it gets out of line.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I have no idea. I'm not that picky, so there should be plenty around there. I have no idea.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I've always enjoyed Pebble Beach. I've never played it in the summertime, which is going to be completely different than when we play in February. It should suit my game, I should say. It's a U.S. Open, but it's also a links type of golf course. I love playing the links type of British Open style golf courses. So I hope they set it up fair. Pinehurst, I thought, was set up probably as fair as any of the U.S. opens so far. You could hit it out of the rough. The greens were not severely fast and so on. So it was playable and still even par, 1-over, won it, and that's the type of set up I would like to see. I don't like when you have to hit it in the rough and then chip out every time. I would like to see some creativity left, you know, as an option. But like I said, I've done well at Pebble and I like the golf course.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I hope so, because you've got a lot of good comments from last year. I mean even though, like I said, the scoring was very high, it was tough conditions. Everybody enjoyed the setup. I couldn't hear anybody complain, thinking it was too tough and so on. They could have set that course up to be impossible. If they wanted 20-over par winning score, they could have done it. They left it the way it should have been played, I thought.

JESPER PARNEVIK: No. I think all players go to these tournaments and do their best to win the tournament. And of course going to be more (inaudible) when Tiger is around. But I think all the players just enjoy that. We all recognize what he's done for the game and the golfing boom right now. I would like to see him play every week if he could. I know he won't.

JESPER PARNEVIK: It's always nice to be up there in the stats. (Inaudible) The driving stats is done with two holes per day, which you have to be very accurate. (Inaudible.) Most of them are fair, I would say. The greens, you can't argue about that. The putting stats, it's hard to do the correct one because you want to use the tougher greens in regulation. But it all comes back to how close to the pin you hit it. So you really don't know if you're putting well or if you're hitting your irons very well. So really you're talking about ups and downs for all stats.

JESPER PARNEVIK: Definitely. (Inaudible) -- where they can measure each putt. Now they have these things where they stand on the tee with a microphone and can measure your swing speed and ball flight. So there's a lot of fun things coming out that I think not only the players will enjoy, but the crowds and the TV viewers. It's kind of like mentioning the fastballs in baseball, it's fun stats. People love stats and numbers.

JESPER PARNEVIK: I think the more facts you get in the more accurate you're going to be. It's not like players try real hard to win a (inaudible). I know if it's in someone's contract and you're leading the driving stats, you might hit 3-woods throughout the tournament and not miss any fairways. Apart from that, I don't think anybody is really concerned where they are in the stats.

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