Sweden’s Jesper Parnevik took a good look at himself in the mirror last night, saw he needed more hip movement, then took his theory to the course to claim the first round lead in the Nissan Open with a fine six-under par 65 yesterday.
The Swede had the good fortune to start both nines with eagle threes at the Riviera Course in California to help ensure his one stroke lead from a chasing group of four players, which included Spain’s Jose Maria Olazabal, in second.
The Spaniard was joined by American pair Billy Andrade and David Peoples alongside Japan’s Toru Taniguchi.
Parnevik, who has not won since the Honda Classic last year, made a shaky start to 2002, with a best finish of 15th from seven events and a couple of missed cuts.
"I looked in the mirror last night and I thought I needed to rotate my hips more," Parnevik said. "I hit it 30 yards further today. I hate playing bad golf. I guess everybody does," explained the typically colourful Parnevik.
"This is my seventh (tournament) in a row, but I didn't want to take off when I'm struggling so much," he said. "I told my caddie I wouldn't have a week off until we won."
Ireland’s Paul McGinley and Darren Clarke struggled to make an impact on the leaderboard, although McGinley may have done had he not dropped shots on the home run.
The Dubliner bogeyed two of the closing three holes and had to settle for a level par round in 71. Meanwhile Clarke failed to recover from two opening bogeys and scrambled for a lowly opening 74.
The defending champion Robert Allenby could only shoot one better than Clarke as the Australian struggled to a 73.
Play was suspended due to fading light last night which left three players still complete their opening rounds when play resumes today.