Parnevik Gets Grip, Grabs Lead

The true Riviera renovation--the one that mattered most Thursday--had nothing to do with lengthened holes, re-routed fairways or freshly dug bunkers.

This overhaul took place in Jesper Parnevik’s hotel room.

Parnevik, mired in one of the worst starts of his career, surged to the top of the leaderboard in the first round of the Nissan Open by making a radical change to his putting stroke and a more subtle adjustment to his swing.

“I looked in the mirror of my hotel room last night, and I thought I needed to rotate my hips,” said Parnevik, who underwent hip surgery two years ago. “It just freed up my whole swing. It’s unbelievable. I’m hitting it much straighter and about 30 yards farther.”

Straighter, farther and suddenly relevant, Parnevik is looking to overcome a painfully slow start in which he is “pretty much doing everything badly.” He had four birdies Thursday and--for the first time in a decade--two eagles to finish with a six-under-par 65 and a one-shot lead over David Peoples, Billy Andrade, Toru Taniguchi and Jose Maria Olazabal.

The most noticeable change Parnevik made was switching to cross-handed putting, something he tried on a lark Wednesday in a pro-am round. He made a 20-foot putt that way, then refined his reverse grip later that evening on the practice green.

He stuck with it Thursday morning, making a 20-foot putt for eagle on No. 1 and a 25-footer for birdie on No. 8. He chipped in for eagle from 25 feet on No. 10.

He wavered when standing over a 60-foot putt on No. 17 and briefly considered switching back to his regular grip. He reconsidered, though, and narrowly missed a cross-handed beauty. He made a three-footer coming back for birdie.

“When I stood up there cross-handed, everything seemed like it fell in place,” he said. “I could see where I was aiming, and the stroke felt good. That’s pretty much the way it was today.”

Parnevik nearly had company atop the leaderboard, but Olazabal missed an eight-foot putt on No. 18 that would have given him a share of the lead. He won the Buick Invitational at La Jolla last weekend and made his ascent Thursday with four birdies on the back nine.

Taniguchi had a bogey-free round and dropped to five under with a birdie on No. 10. He finished his round with eight consecutive pars.

Two shots off the lead are Tommy Armour III, Esteban Toledo, Brad Faxon and David Duval, who is playing for the first time in three weeks.

John Daly shot a 70, and a frustrated Sergio Garcia retired to the practice green after shooting a 73.

The crowds were noticeably smaller in the absence of Tiger Woods, who decided to skip the tournament to recover from flu.

“If Tiger was here, that would be that extra spice in the soup,” Garcia said. “But I think you still have great players and you have players that have been playing great.”

Play was suspended because of darkness at 5:50 p.m. with six golfers on the course, none of whom were among the top 10. They will finish their rounds this morning.

Unlike last year, when the tournament was plagued by heavy rains, it was clear, cool and slightly breezy. That made for some very long drives and lots of action on the slick greens.

“It was playing really fast, and I like it like that,” Toledo said. “The greens are very hard, so you have to be in the fairway. I was playing 15 yards short and bouncing the ball up.”

Parnevik had no complaints, considering he is 57th on the money list ($133,100), and he missed the cut at Palm Springs and Phoenix.

This from a guy who has won at least one event in each of the last four seasons and has topped $1 million in earnings for five consecutive years.

Then, the slump.

“It was to the point where I was putting in so much effort and time,” he said. “I was putting in 10, 12 hours a day and just wasn’t getting any results. [Wednesday] it just kind of clicked a little bit, and that makes it so much more fun to play.”

He has played in all seven PGA Tour events this season, making a bet with his caddie that he can go without a break until he wins.

“Looking at the way I played earlier this year,” he said, “it looked like it was going to be a very long year.”

Now, who knows? He has played well at Riviera in the past, tying for 13th last year and finishing second to Kirk Triplett in 2000. For the moment, Parnevik intends to stick with his new techniques. He had a simple explanation for that:

“When you’re desperate, you’re desperate.”

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