Creative scrambling shows Parnevik is back in vintage form  PGATOUR.com Contributor SAN ANTONIO -- It's just the way he plays. Honest. A bit wild off the tee. Definitely creative the rest of the way.  A series of great escapes kept Jesper Parnevik in the running for the Texas Open title under the bitter end. (Ferrey/WireImage)
And just when you think he's got nothing left? He'll find a way to amaze you. Not to mention save par. Or even bogey. Yes, for a while there it looked as though Jesper Parnevik was going to pull off the greatest escape of his career. Justin Leonard was running him down and he was pulling miracles out of his bag to hang in there. A birdie out of serious nowhere at the 15th. An unbelievable bogey at 16 -- from the bushes. A tee shot to 4 feet to tie it back up at the 17th. A par from an unplayable lie on the first playoff hole. But in the end, Parnevik simply ran out of miracles. Leonard got him -- this time -- on the third playoff hole to win the Valero Texas Open, a tournament he'd led by three shots after 54 holes. Leonard came from four shots back to clip the eclectic, free-spirited Swede. In 1997, Leonard came from five shots behind third-round leader Parnevik to win the Open Championship in Troon. "I give all the credit to Justin because he didn't do much wrong today and when he had to, he putted absolutely flawless,'' Parnevik said. "I know when he gets his putter going he is tough. That's just the way it is.'' And when Parnevik plays the way he did for the first three days at LaCantera ... well, some amazing things can happen. He played near flawlessly the first three days, opening with a 61 -- one shot off the course record -- and following it with rounds of 65 and 66 to get to 18 under. And he led for 54 holes. "The tough thing is to actually get into position,'' he said. "Of course, guys like Tiger and so on who is always there -- I would say for me it's a little bit tougher because 72 holes is a long week. "It's a grind from Thursday morning and sometimes tough to really get going Thursday morning and pump yourself up and do the Tiger fist pump on the second hole with five people watching.'' He did that and more. The key? A new ESP putter from the company's Dead On Putter Series that he picked up Tuesday. "As soon as I set it, placed it on the ground, I said, 'This is it, this feels great,' " he said. It stayed that way, too. But Sunday, when he was back in the pressure situation for the first time since the 2005 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, his tee shots got, well, a little Jesper-like. Then the miracles started happening. And, while it might not have been the best run of Houdini shots he's ever had, it was close. "I'm sure I have (had better ones) because I'm used to being in trouble, trust me,'' he said, drawing a laugh. "I'm not the best driver on TOUR. I never have been.
"But it's not always they come as timely as this when you definitely need them and they come -- you know, you pull them off, but, you know, it's not very often you play in a playoff and you have to take an unplayable and almost win the hole.'' He was lucky too, to have a steadying hand on his bag in longtime caddie Lance Ten Broeck, a former TOUR player, to calm him down and save him from a mistake. "I would say a lot of times that he can sense when I'm about to mess things up and he can guide me in a different direction,'' Parnevik said with a smile. That he didn't win and light yet another victory cigar . . . well, it might not have been as painful as losing that Open Championship, but it hurt just the same. At the same time, finishing second assured him of remaining on TOUR for a 22nd season in 2008. The payday moved him to 94th on the money list. "I did not really want to use my career money list [exemption] and I mean I've been a pro now for 21 years and I never missed my TOUR card either here or in Europe, so even though that should not be the goal, right now that was the goal to get in that 125,'' he said. ". . . That's definitely positive from this and now I can -- now I can go out and free-wheel a little bit more the last four tournaments of the year.'' But, as he headed for the airport to fly to Las Vegas for the Frys.com Open, he wasn't sure what he would take away from Sunday afternoon -- the miracle shots, the way he fought or what could have been. "I don't know what my thinking capacity is going to be tonight, to be honest,'' he said. And will you have a few beers? He chuckled. "I might not even remember this happened tomorrow morning,'' he said. But he will remember the great escapes. He always does because that's just the way he plays. |
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