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Bet puts Parnevik back on track
Posted: Saturday April 06, 2002 8:28 PM
By David Westin
The Augusta Chronicle
Early this season, Jesper Parnevik was so frustrated by his play that the Swede made a bet with his caddie. Parnevik vowed that he would continue playing each week until he won a tournament.
After playing 10 straight events, Parnevik paid off the bet.
Though he didn't win, his game was in better shape because of the steady competition.
"Any player can stand on the range and beat balls and feel good after a while," Parnevik said. "It's on the golf course that they really find out if it's working or not. That's where I feel right now. I've just got to play tournaments and get close to winning again and see how things work out then."
Parnevik has five PGA Tour victories, but the last one came more than a year ago, in the Honda Classic.
When he made out his 2002 schedule, Parnevik planned to play the first three tournaments, then take a break, which was normal for him. The most tournaments he'd played consecutively in his professional career was four.
That changed after he missed the cut in the third event, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. In his previous two starts, he had tied for 26th at the Mercedes Championship and then tied for 54th in the Sony Open.
"After the Bob Hope, things weren't going as well as we were hoping, and my caddie (Lance Ten Broeck) asked if I was going to take a break, and I said, 'No, we're going to keep on playing until I win.' It was just a stupid bet I made."
During the next seven tournaments, Parnevik missed the cut at Phoenix, tied for 15th at Pebble Beach, tied for 70th in the Buick Invitational, tied for 29th in the Nissan Open, tied for 33rd in the Match Play Championship, finished 10th in the Genuity Championship and missed the cut at the Honda Classic.
"One of the reasons I made that bet with my caddie is because I haven't really played the way I would like to play since my hip surgery (after the 2000 season), even though I won the Honda Classic in 2001," Parnevik said. "But my game had not felt 100 percent. I didn't feel like staying at home would help my cause."
His 10-tournament playing streak ended at the Honda Classic.
"I wasn't tired, because I was playing better," Parnevik said at the end of the streak. "My game feels like it's on the right path and turning around. It's very, very tiring to play 10 weeks in a row playing badly because anybody who plays golf knows it's such a frustrating game. The difference between winning and finishing 30th is minuscule. I mean, you can't even measure how small the difference is."
The extra competition this season has helped Parnevik return to the swing he had before his hip problem.
He didn't know how much he'd been compensating for the pain in his hip until he saw some film of his pre-2000 swing.
"There was actually quite a big difference," said the 37-year-old Parnevik. "My setup was different. I was much more tilted in the shoulder. I was leaning back a lot more to take the load off the left hip at setup, so I was pretty much more on the right side. That made me hang back a little bit at impact."
With his swing back in order, Parnevik hopes to improve his record in the Masters. In five appearances, starting in 1997, his best finish is a tie for 20th in 2001.
"I've never really played well there," he said of Augusta National Golf Club. "My game has felt real good going in there, but I've never played well. I don't think I've ever been patient enough to aim away from the pin on every hole. It seems like some shots look too easy to play safe, and I end up going for the pin and end up making bogey or double.
"I learned a lot playing with Greg Norman in 1999, when he almost won the tournament," Parnevik said. "I played with him the first two rounds, and he hardly ever went for the pin. I think he had 200 yards to the pin on No. 15 two days in a row and laid up with a sand wedge. I was 40 yards back, trying to go for it with a 3-wood."
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