Jesper Parnevik – Wikipedia

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Swedish professional golfer

Jesper Bo Parnevik (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈjɛ̌sːpɛr ˈpɑ̂ːɳɛˌviːk]; born 7 March 1965) is a Swedish professional golfer. He spent 38 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking in 2000 and 2001.[2]

Early years and amateur career[edit]

Parnevik was born in Botkyrka, Stockholm County,[3] and is the son of Swedish entertainer Bosse Parnevik and his wife Gertie (b. 1940). He grew up in Åkersberga.

Parnevik became a member of the first group of students in Sweden to combine studying with golf training at the Swedish upper secondary sports school in Danderyd outside Stockholm.[4] At age 15, Parnevik spent 10 days in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and developed an appreciation for life in the United States; he later moved to Palm Beach County, Florida, to attend Palm Beach Junior College in Lake Worth on a golf scholarship.[5]

Parnevik was a member of the team representing Sweden at the 1984 and 1986 Eisenhower Trophy. He was also part of the Swedish team finishing second, after losing in the final against Scotland, at the 1985 European Amateur Team Championship on home soil in Halmstad, Sweden, where Parnevik won individually at the initial qualifying stroke-play competition.

Professional career[edit]

Parnevik turned professional in 1986. After winning the Swedish Golf Tour Order of Merit in 1988, including a runner-up finish to Vijay Singh at the 1988 Swedish PGA Championship, he scored four wins on the European Tour. His breakthrough came when he out-dueled Payne Stewart at the 1993 Scottish Open at Gleneagles King’s Course.

With victories in 1995 and 1998, Parnevik became the first Swede to win twice on the European Tour on home soil. At his first victory at the Scandinavian Masters in 1995 at Barsebäck Golf & Country Club, he played 72 holes competition and 18 holes pro-am without a bogey, but with one double-bogey.

Based in Florida, he joined the PGA Tour in the mid-90s, subsequently winning five events. His playing career also includes three Ryder Cup appearances (1997, 1999, and 2002) and two runner-up finishes in The Open (1994 and 1997). His career best world ranking of seventh, which he attained on 14 May 2000, was the highest world ranking achieved by a Swedish golfer until Henrik Stenson reached the top five in February 2007.[6]

In late 2000, Parnevik underwent hip surgery at the persuasion of Greg Norman, who had undergone similar surgery.[7]

Parnevik finished second in the Valero Texas Open in October 2007, losing to Justin Leonard in a playoff. In 2009, after a tie for 17th at the SAS Masters in Sweden, Parnevik underwent further hip surgery in Vail, Colorado, United States,[8] which cut short his 2009 season on the PGA Tour. He also cited the hip injury as the reason for his withdrawal from the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament (“Q-School”) in December 2009.

In 2010, Parnevik missed cuts in his first three tournaments and had to withdraw again after a first round 68 at the Northern Trust Open because of an ailing back. He had emergency surgery where it was discovered that he had a broken lumbar vertebrae that could put his career in jeopardy.[9]

Parnevik played the 2011 PGA Tour season on a fully exempt status for his Top 50 All-Time Earnings ranking. He was allowed to reuse this one-time exemption after being able to play only five tournaments in 2010.[10] He played the 2012 and 2013 seasons on a Medical Extension after suffering a severe injury to his right hand in a boating accident.[11]

Plagued by injuries for years, Parnevik staged a comeback on the Champions Tour when he became eligible in 2015. He started 2016 with a tie for third at the Chubb Classic, losing out to former world number one golfers Bernhard Langer and Fred Couples.[12] He got his first win on the Champions Tour in the same year at the Insperity Invitational.

Parnevik is known for his distinctive and eccentric taste in clothes and fashion as well as his playing achievements, a fashion sense that led golf writer Dan Jenkins to describe him as “the last guy to climb out of the clown car at the circus”.[13] His on-course trademark was the upturned bill on his baseball cap. While on the European Ryder Cup team, he received a customized team cap with the Ryder Cup logo on the bottom of the bill instead of the front, so that it could be seen with the bill turned up. He has since stopped wearing the flipped-bill hat, opting for strawhats and visors but retains a flamboyant sense of fashion, such as disco-style purple trousers and other golf apparel designed by Johan Lindeberg. He has been politely described as “eclectic”, and has been known to change outfits at the halfway stage of a round of tournament golf. Beginning in 2006, one of his new on-course fashion statements was a necktie worn under a vest. Puma Golf signed Jesper Parnevik in 2014 and he gets credited for his influence on their LUX Golf Appearel Line. Since wearing Puma Clothes he once again wears a custom made and more modern looking flipped bill hat. He is also known to eat volcanic dust as a dietary supplement.[14] Parnevik’s nickname on tour is “Spaceman”.

Awards, personal life[edit]

In 1998, Parnevik was awarded honorary member of the PGA of Sweden.[15]

He was awarded the 1999 Swedish Golfer of the Year.

In 2003, the three Swedish teammates of the victorious European Ryder Cup team the previous year, Niclas Fasth, Pierre Fulke and Parnevik, was each, by the Swedish Golf Federation, awarded the Golden Club, the highest award for contributions to Swedish golf, as the 30th, 31st and 32nd recipients.[15]

Parnevik has an eclectic acting career, including a cameo in the 2007 comedy, Who’s Your Caddy,[16] in which he plays himself. An allegedly thoughtful historian in his free time, and a man with varied tastes, he was once asked with whom he would like to have dinner. He quickly replied that it would have to be a choice between Albert Einstein and Elvis Presley. When told he could only have one, he shot back, “OK, Elvis Einstein.”

Parnevik is credited with having introduced fellow professional golfer Tiger Woods to Swedish au pair Elin Nordegren (previously employed by Parnevik), whom Woods eventually married. Parnevik subsequently stated in 2009 that he regretted his responsibility for this introduction after reports of Woods’ infidelity surfaced that year.[17]

Parnevik and his family starred in a reality TV show, Parneviks, which aired on TV3 in Sweden for four seasons from 2015 to 2018, giving insights into his life in Florida. He is married to Mia Parnevik (née Sandsten 1968), and they have three daughters and one son. His oldest daughter Peg Parnevik has a career as a pop singer.[18] Another daughter, Penny, has a relationship with Douglas Murray.[19] His son Phoenix is named after Parnevik’s first PGA Tour win at the 1998 Phoenix Open.

Parnevik has a waterfront home in Tequesta, Florida.[20]

Amateur wins[edit]

  • 1985 Swedish Junior Stroke-play Championship[21][15]

Professional wins (15)[edit]

PGA Tour wins (5)[edit]

PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

European Tour wins (4)[edit]

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

Challenge Tour wins (1)[edit]

Swedish Golf Tour wins (2)[edit]

Other wins (2)[edit]

PGA Tour Champions wins (1)[edit]

Results in major championships[edit]

  Top 10

  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
DQ = Disqualified
“T” = tied

Summary[edit]

  • Most consecutive cuts made – 11 (1995 Open Championship – 1998 Open Championship)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (1999 Open Championship – 1999 PGA)

Results in The Players Championship[edit]

Tournament 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
The Players Championship T49 T53 CUT T25 T23 CUT CUT CUT T48 T33 T46 T38 CUT T69

CUT = missed the halfway cut
“T” indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships[edit]

1Cancelled due to 9/11

  Top 10

  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
“T” = Tied
WD = Withdrew
NT = No tournament

Results in senior major championships[edit]

  Did not play

“T” indicates a tie for a place
CUT = missed the halfway cut
DQ = disqualified
NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Team appearances[edit]

Amateur

Professional

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “Week 19 2000 Ending 14 May 2000” (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  2. ^ “69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 In World Ranking” (PDF). Official World Golf Ranking. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  3. ^ “Birth info from article in Allehanda.se” (in Swedish). 14 March 2010. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  4. ^ Ohlson, Jörgen (February 1982). “De tränar på skoltid – med rent samvete” [They practice at school time – with clean conscience]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 1. pp. 6–11. Archived from the original on 3 November 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  5. ^ Rubenstein, Lorne (9 August 1998). “Parnevik may soon be a major player”. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on 4 May 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  6. ^ “Henrik Stenson Wins the WGC-Accenture Match Play and Reaches World Number 5”. Official World Golf Ranking. 26 February 2007. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  7. ^ “Parnevik next in line for hip surgery”. The Tuscaloosa News. 23 September 2000. p. 7C. Archived from the original on 4 May 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  8. ^ “Parnevik’s hip surgery will likely end his season”. PGA Tour. 26 July 2009. Archived from the original on 11 March 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  9. ^ “Parnevik has broken vertebrae, career in jeopardy”. PGA Tour. 11 February 2010. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  10. ^ Dolch, Craig (10 January 2011). “Parnevik attempts comeback”. PGA Tour. Archived from the original on 19 June 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  11. ^ “Recent news on Jesper Parnevik – PGA Golfer”. Rotoworld.com. Archived from the original on 22 August 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  12. ^ Jesper Parnevik PGA Tour Career Summary Archived 6 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, PGA Tour, accessed 27 February 2016
  13. ^ “Golf Quotes from Golf Today – the Ryder Cup”. Archived from the original on 5 April 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  14. ^ Lawton, James (5 April 2005). “Volcanic dust puts Parnevik on different planet”. The Independent. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  15. ^ a b c Golf – Den stora sporten [Golf – The great sport] (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation. 2004. pp. 78–79, 98, 224, 285. Archived from the original on 1 July 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  16. ^ Who’s Your Caddy Archived 28 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine – at IMDB.com
  17. ^ “Parnevik regrets Woods introduction”. RTÉ.ie. 3 December 2009. Archived from the original on 13 April 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  18. ^ “Peg Parneviks nya karriär – gör musik”. Expressen. 18 March 2016. Archived from the original on 17 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  19. ^ “Parneviks Säsong 4 Avsnitt 6” [Parneviks Season 4 Episode 6]. Parneviks. Season 4. Episode 6 (in Swedish). TV3 Sweden. 24 April 2018. 6 minutes in. Viasat. Archived from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  20. ^ https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/jesper-parneviks-house/view/bing/ Archived 28 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine Parnevik House
  21. ^ JSM Match Pojkar Archived 21 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine Swedish Golf Federation
  22. ^ “Golf – Super Tour; Parnevik Wins By Four Shots”. The New York Times. 15 December 1997. Archived from the original on 27 December 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  23. ^ “European Amateur Team Championship”. European Golf Association. 19 October 2015. Archived from the original on 19 February 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2020.

External links[edit]