Parnevik Fashions a Winning Style

By THOMAS BONK

Jan. 24, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

PALM DESERT — With his black cap, black shirt, black slacks, black shoes and black socks, slender Jesper Parnevik looked sort of like the shadow of a rake. But at least there was a reason he chose to dress like an eclipse.

“I was out of the big colors,” Parnevik said. “The red, the baby blue, were already gone, so I had to go with the old-fashioned way.”

So on the last day of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Parnevik was a vision in basic black.

We have seen him wear Popsicle purple and colors that would make a chameleon dizzy, but it was an elegant, understated Parnevik who finished off a merry weekend at Bermuda Dunes Country Club with a birdie on the last hole to win the 41st Hope Classic.

Parnevik, who had a 64 on Saturday, turned in a 65 and birdied the last hole on Sunday to slip past Rory Sabbatini by one shot and claim the $540,000 winner’s check.

The son of a Swedish comedian, Parnevik’s victory was his third on the PGA Tour. This is no laughing matter. After three weeks, Parnevik leads the PGA Tour money list with $808,700, which could buy him some new baby blues and reds if he wanted.

Meanwhile, feel free to color Sabbatini several shades of crimson. He led by a shot at the turn, then played the back side two over after an incident with a marshal at the 10th hole.

The marshal nearly stepped on Sabbatini’s golf ball. Sabbatini said the marshal almost stepped on it twice. Irritated, Sabbatini said to the marshal: “Have you been smoking?” The marshal was not amused and the two became involved in a brief, but spirited conversation.

“He tried to play soccer with my golf ball,” Sabbatini said. “I don’t know if he realized it was there, but it was very unnecessary for him to walk right there.”

Sabbatini blamed the incident on losing his focus. “It kind of played with my mind,” he said.

The Bob Hope always plays with your mind in some way, usually because of the extreme pressure to manufacture birdies every hole you play or find yourself in danger of getting run over from behind.

Parnevik’s 90-hole total of 331 was 27 under par, one shot better than David Duval’s total to par when he won last year. Duval finished with a 69 and wound up tied for fifth with Hal Sutton at 23-under 335. J.L. Lewis and David Toms tied for third at 25-under 333.

The numbers for the weekend told Parnevik’s story. He played the last two rounds at Bermuda Dunes at 13-under and Duval made the same two trips at five-under.

Parnevik made the turn in five-under and seemed to be breezing along when he made birdies at No. 12 and No. 13 that moved him past Sabbatini.

“I was playing great,” Parnevik said.

Down the stretch, Parnevik’s path to victory followed an unusual course. His tee shot on No. 15 sailed left and the ball struck a spectator in the forehead. “It looked like a big golf ball was growing out of his head,” Parnevik said. “I asked him a few times if he was OK and he said, ‘I’m fine as long as you win the tournament.’ So that was very comforting in a way.”

It was not very comforting that Parnevik lost about 18 yards on the ricochet, but at least it didn’t cost him. Sabbatini caught up briefly when Parnevik bogeyed No. 16, but Sabbatini was having problems keeping his shots from going left.

Still, they were tied for the lead with one hole to go. Parnevik was playing one group ahead of Sabbatini and reached the green in two shots. Some 50 feet from the hole, he massaged a two-putt birdie, the second a nervy little number from about five feet.

That meant Sabbatini had to come up with one last birdie to catch up. His drive was in the left rough and under a tree and he chose to lay up with his second shot, but nearly pushed it into the lake. On his third shot, he lofted a sand wedge over trees and towers and onto the green, about 25 feet from the hole.

Parnevik was on the driving range to prepare for a possible playoff, following Sabbatini’s progress by crowd noise and information passed on by Tour personnel.

“He hit an unbelievable third shot, I heard, over the walkie-talkies, because they told me it was all over before he hit the shot,” Parnevik said. “But we heard a big roar again.”

It wasn’t over just yet. Sabbatini had one chance left, an uphill 25-footer for birdie that would mean a playoff. The putt never came close, though, and Parnevik lit up a cigar on the range to celebrate.

“I was just grinding out there,” Sabbatini said.

As for Parnevik, the grind doesn’t seem so awful when you begin the year with a tie for sixth at the Mercedes Championships, a tie for third at the Sony Open and now a victory. That’s three weeks, three top 10s, one victory, more than $800,000 in earnings.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Hope Scores

JESPER PARNEVIK

$540,000

69-67-66-64-65--331

RORY SABBATINI

$324,000

67-67-66-64-68--332

J.L. LEWIS

$174,000

65-66-70-66-66--333

DAVID TOMS