One week after an disconcerting disqualification, Sweden's Jesper Parnevik completed a record-shattering wire-to-wire victory yesterday in at the Greater Greensboro Classic.
Parnevik stumbled home with a two-under par 70 - his worst round of the tournament - but recorded his second career PGA Tour triumph, a two-stroke victory over Jim Furyk. His 72-hole score of 23-under 265 sliced a remarkable six strokes off the tournament record.
Parnevik, 34, was disqualified following the third round of last week's MCI Classic. He switched caddies and clubs for this event and it paid off with a $468,000-first-prize. That is nearly twice what the Swede won in his first 10 events of the year.
Parnevik, who has eight international victories under his belt, played the first 36 holes at 16-under but was able to lead by only two strokes over Furyk. Furyk and Tom Lehman were the only players to record four rounds in the 60s.
"You think your first (win) is tough but this one was almost tougher because I really struggled with my driving on the weekend," said Parnevik, who hit just 10 of 28 fairways over the final two rounds.
"I probably hit the wildest tee shot of my life on 14. After that I didn't have a clue where the ball was going. Pretty much every time I hit the fairway I made birdie. Apart from that it was a struggle."
Jeff Maggert recorded his best finish since winning $1 million at the Match Play Championship in February, firing a 68 for sole possession of third place at 15-under.
Dudley Hart was next at 274, followed by one stroke by Lehman.
Choi Kyoung ju of South Korea won the 100 million yen Kirin Open Tournament in Tsukuba, near Tokyo, in a sudden death play-off with Jeev Singh of India.
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