If you were to believe him, Seve Ballesteros's only concern about Jesper Parnevik's flipped-up peaked cap is whether or not the Swede will be able to walk with it into the levanter wind. "I hope he can still wear it," said the skipper.
The suspicion exists that Parnevik will be the least of the captain's problems in this Ryder Cup. Indeed the massive expenditure by the Swedish Federation over the past 10 years has borne fruit with two players from that country, Parnevik and Per-Ulrik Johansson, making the team for the first time.
Appearances can be deceptive too. While Johansson is the essence of a cool, calm and collected Scandinavian, Parnevik's madcap image disguises an inner desire to be a real winner. As the son of a comedian, however, it's not surprising that he has turned out to be something of a joker himself.
When his wife gave birth to a 9 lb daughter recently, Parnevik - who plays Callaway clubs - joked about calling his offspring "Big Bertha." Instead, he plumped for the name Penny, just because he happened to have a pen in his shirt pocket.
On a more serious note, Parnevik is proud of Sweden's emergence as a golfing power. "We definitely have the strength in depth with 25 to 30 players on the European Tour compared to just three a few years back, and most of them are capable of winning tournaments. However, we are still waiting for someone to make it really big," he said.
Parnevik, who is committed to the US Tour, required one of Ballesteros's captain's picks to get into the side. Now, the Swede is aiming to return the favour by spearheading Europe to victory. "Seve was always the guy I wanted to watch play golf on television when I was growing up," recalled Parnevik. "To me personally he has been a great motivator and an inspiration."
"So far this week, Seve has been very calm. I haven't seen him fiery yet - but I'm sure at the weekend he will have to hold himself back. He has given me some advice okay. He told me to stay calm, to keep my emotions steady all week and not to get too psyched up," said Parnevik.
