June 2001

Sunday June 3 - All the way to Memphis!
It's going to be a busy week. Jill and I flew to Memphis today for the Fedex event and also for the US Open Final Qualifying. Because the Qualifier is on Tuesday and is 36 holes over two courses I will be playing golf almost non-stop for a week. Today I played a practice round at the TPC Southwind, which is the venue for the Fedex. Tommorow, I will play or at least walk all 36 holes of the Memphis qualifier courses. Then Tuesday it's 36 holes qualifiying ( I think the top 12 from 80 or so get in - I'll let you know). I will probably just have a stroll around TPC on Wedenesday to reacquaint myself with the course. I am not yet at the point on the PGA TOUR where I qualify for the Wedenesday Pro-Am so I will not be able to get on the course to practice. That's probably a good thing because I have the feeling that a day off will come in handy!...I'll keep you posted of all the golf this week on the site. We just watched Tiger win again...He is remarkable....Off to dinner...Per

Monday June 4 - Colonial Country Club, Memphis
The beginning of my week started a few miles from our hotel at Colonial Country Club. I have 36 holes tommorow in an effort to qualify for the US Open next week at Tulsa, Oklahoma. I played both courses today and tried to commit as much to memory. The courses will play long because there seems to have been quite a lot of rain here. Still, the greens are in good condition, although I am surprised we are not playing lift and place on the fairways beacuse the ball has a tendency to pick up mud as it lands. It will be a day to remain patient! I understand 26 players from the field of 125 will go through, but I won't think about that. Just play my best and if I do that I should make it. I would really like to play Southern Hills in Tulsa. The US Open is always a special event and I have some good experiences of previous Opens. It's been a long day and I have an early tee time so its off to bed...Per

Tuesday June 5 - US Open Qualifier - Colonial Country Club, 70 - 70
A very frustrating day resulting in a pair of 70s at the US Open qualifier. Unfortunately, this wasn't good enough by 2 shots and I will now have a week off in Florida rather than travel to Tulsa (29 guys qualified from 129 starters). Disappointing, of course, but I played well and simply put, struggled with the putter. In particular shooting 70 on the North course in the morning proved to be my undoing. It is the easier of the two courses (the other being...yes you guessed, The South!) and I needed a low round there to set me up for round two. I was giving up a few shots to those who were going low on the North in the morning and making it more difficult than I would have liked. Still, my game is in good shape and my thoughts now turn to the job in hand which is the Fedex St.Jude Classic here in Memphis. Jill is here with me and we will have an early dinner and then relax a little on Wedenesday, as it is Pro-Am day. Maybe hit some balls later in the day and play a few holes once the course quietens down after the amateurs have played. A long day at Colonial Country Club and obvious disappointment not to be playing the US Open, but ready for a good week here and then relaxing in the sun. My eyes continue to get better and better (thanks to all of you have been asking). Catch up with you later in the week...Per

Wednesday June 6 - We're going to Graceland, Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee!!
Yes, that was where we went this morning and pretty cool it was too...in a kitsch kind of way. After the tribulations of the last few days, I needed a few hours rest and as we were in Elvis's home town we thought it would be fun to visit. I guess it is always busy there and its amazing to think that people make the pilgrimage from all over the world just to see where The King (I thought that was Arnie!) lived. Rather like us then, I guess. The afternoon was back to work and some gentle practice before teeing it up tomorrow. My tee times are 1.54pm from the 10th and 8.54am from the 1st on Friday. I'm playing in the 'Jupiter threesome' with two guys who live in the same town as me, Briny Baird and Ryan Dillon. They are both good guys so we should have fun - and I'm not last off the tee...I must be moving up in the world! I'll report back to you tomorrow...Per

Thursday June 7 - FedEx St. Jude Classic ( 3 under with 5 to go)
The Pro-Am was washed out yesterday and the rain continued to fall through the night. I had a feeling that we would be delayed and that was the way it turned out. My tee time was pushed back by two hours and in the end I didn't get finished. I heard the hooter on the 13th and elected to finish that hole. As I hitched a ride back to the clubhouse I was three under. I again played well and starting from the 10th birdied 12, 16 and 18 to be out in 32. So another early start tomorrow to finish up my round and then a quick bite to eat. As I had an early tee time for the second round, I will be off again soon after I have finished round one. We are playing 'lift, clean and place' as the zoysia fairways are very soggy. The greens staff have done an amazing job to get us out there and the run of bad weather at PGA TOUR events sadly continues. Looking forward to a good nights sleep and to have a solid finish to round one (on day two!)..Bye for now…Per

Friday June 8 - FedEx St. Jude Classic, 70 (-1), 65 (-6)
Another long day here in Tennessee. I was up at 5 am this morning and teed off from the 14th hole to finish my first round. I started so badly and gave back two of my hard earned birdies with a couple of silly bogeys. Very annoying after playing so well on my front nine yesterday! I made three pars after that and had to be content with a 70 and a tie for 64th and in danger of missing the cut. I knew I needed to play well in the second round and I'm pleased to report to you all my best round of the year. I shot 65 , which is 6 under the card. I had birdies on 2, 5, 12, 13, 15 and 16 and NO bogeys. It's really moved me up the board and in to the top 20 the last time I looked. I'm in contention again at the weekend and ready to shoot a good score on 'move day' as we all traditionally refer to Saturday. Look forward to catching up with you tomorrow night my time. My new monthly competition to win one of my personalised hats will start next week on p-uj.com, so look out for that..Bye for now.... looking forward to dinner...Per

Saturday June 9 - FedEx St. Jude Classic - 73 (+2)
When I woke up this morning I wasn't sure I would be able to play. I seem to have a reaction to sunlight with my eyes and as it has been very bright here the last couple of days my eyes were really hurting. I ended up playing and switched hats from my usual PU hat to a 'bucket' type of hat to help to keep as much sun out as possible. I also wore my Oakleys. I shot 73, which in the circumstances was not too bad. On the back nine where you can really make the score on this course I dropped two shots having shot level par on the front side with two bogeys and two birdies. This has not helped my cause in the event and I have moved back to tied 40th from being in the top 15. More important to me is to get this sorted out. I have a week off next week, which couldn't have come at a better time. Rest assured I will try my best again on Sunday and see if I can make it up the board. Fingers crossed for an overcast day!…Per

Sunday June 10 - FedEx St. Jude Classic - 69 (-2)
A solid finish to the week and a score that moved me up 10 spots to finish 30th for the week. After the way I felt yesterday I am happy to finish at -7 and head off for a weeks break. I had an interesting start with one par in the first six holes. I bogeyed the first and then made three birdies 'on the bounce' before making my second bogey of the day on the sixth. The round settled down after that and with birdies on the 11th and 16th things were looking up. Unfortunately. I gave one back at the tough 18th, but overall a 69 was a fair reflecton of the way I played. I won $20,800 which has moved me up to 95th in the PGA TOUR Money List, my best position so far this year. I have a goal in my mind for my final year and will let you at the end of the season if I make it! The re-rank of TOUR graduates (as I am affectionately known!?) takes place after the Fedex and I will have moved up to somewhere near the top 10, from a starting point of 50th and this will help my entries to the next series of events, which is great news. I now have a week off to relax beffore another run of events. It should give my eyes some time to recover and after several weeks on the road I intend taking it easy...This signals the end of a long run and I feel like I am back on track after a poor and frustrating run as I began my new life on the PGA TOUR. The support I have received (through thick and thin) from all of your emails has really made a difference....Thanks to all of you...Per

Thursday June 14 - Florida
Jill and I have had a relaxing week here in Jupiter. The weather has been wondefrul and we have spent time at the beach and catching up with friends. Our p-uj.com competition starts today and you can enter by clicking on the competition link on the left hand side of the home page. This will take you to 3 simple qustions about me! If you get stuck with the answers have a look around the site - they're all there. Thanks to my hat sponsors Kangol and Intentia for providing the hats. This is the actual hat I wear and is not available in the shops (as they say). You will see from the pictures that it features my PU logo in Swedish colours of blue and yellow, as well as those of Intentia on the front and Kangol on the side. I hope you have a minute to enter. We plan on running the competition through this year and each month we will draw a name out of the hat! Next stop for me will be the Buick and I plan on getting on a plane to New York on Monday. I'll catch up with you from Westchester. Have great golfing weekend watching The US Open....Per

Monday June 18 - Florida
Could you believe that US Open finish last night? Imagine the pressure on the three guys that all 3-putted the last and you can believe it. I know Retief well and was particularly disappointed that having hit such a great 2nd shot that he sucumbed to it all. Still he can come back and finish it today. Should be interesting, because Mark is great in playoffs and Retief is an excellent matchplayer. His record in the Dunhill Cup is outstanding so it should be good stuff. I fly to New York tonight for The Buick Classic played at Westchester Country Club. I'm looking forward to getting back on the golf course, although I have really enjoyed my week off. The 'Win my Hat' competition has been a great success to date. Thanks to all of you for entering and if you haven't done so yet there is still time for the June competition. We'll draw out the winner at the end of the month and Nick will email you if you're the lucky one this month. I'll catch up with you from Rye, New York tomorrow...Per

Tuesday June 19 - The Buick Classic, Westchester, New York
A great win in the end for Retief. Congratulations to him on a life changing achievement. This week in Westchester is another $3.5 million week with $630,000 to the winner. The course plays at 6722 yards and last years winner was the crazy shirted Dennis Paulson (great to have a little colour on TOUR). Today I will hit balls and then play a round with Gabriel Hjertstedt, my regular practice round buddy. I hear the course is great and I m looking forward to getting out there. I'll let you know tee times once they're announced tomorrow. For a full review of May and June you can go to PGATOUR.com for my diary. It will be on their site later on today…..'Til Wednesday…Per

Wednesday June 20 - The Buick Classic, Westchester, New York
I had a room-service dinner last night as Jill went into New York with a friend of hers. It sounds like they had a great time! I worked out with my personal trainer Rick Provost this morning before practising. Rick is the PGA TOUR trainer and he spends a great deal of time on Tour. It really helps working with the same fitness coach because he knows when and how to push me to the next level. My eyes are feeling better, but I still need to wear as much protection as possible. The healing process is certainly longer than I had anticipated. The draw is out and I have different tee times from the norm with an early afternoon start on Thursday (at 12.20pm) and then an early morning start on Friday (at 720am). My playing partners are Sean Murphy from Scottsdale, Arizona and Pete Jordan from Tampa, Florida. Both are excellent players and I'm ready to play. Oh the course is fantastic!…Catch up with you after the round…Per

Thursday June 21 - New York, New York, so good they named it twice!
Had fun with Jill and some friends in New York last night. I caught the train from White Plains into Grand Central Station. It only took about 35 minutes to arrive at one of the great buildings in the world. Jill and our friends had been in NY,NY for the day and after my practice it was great to go and do something different. Would you believe we found a Swedish restaurant called Ulrika's and we all had meat balls and mashed potatoes. This is a traditional Swedish speciality. We also bought Swedish candy and chocolate to remind us of home! An early dinner allowed us to get the train back at 10pm and straight to bed. I'll give you an update on my play later…Per

Thursday June 21 - Buick Classic- Round One - One hole!!
What a long day! I got to the course at 930am in plenty of time for my 12.20pm tee time. That way I could have some breakfast, relax and hit balls. The weather looked ominous and after one and a half holes the siren went. This indicates that it is either not safe to play or it's raining too much to play. So we headed back to the clubhouse and waited and waited and waited. Until 6.30pm when play was suspended for the day. This now means I will start again over my second shot on the second hole at 07.00 in the morning.... Another early start and the bad weather continues on the PGA TOUR. It's really unfortunate and throws everyones schedule off. I will now have a short break after my round and then go to the 10th tee for my second round. It's also a shame because it is Midsummer day in Sweden and we were going to celebrate this in New York with friends. After a 04.30am wake up call and 34 holes I think room service may be the best option!...Hopefully we can get back on track with the Buick on Friday...Bye for now...Per

Friday June 22 - Buick Classic 69 (-2), 69 (-2)
After a very long, but rewarding day on the golf course I am back at the hotel. Jill and I were hoping to go into New York for the world's biggest Swedish midsummer party. It is held in Battery Park. I guess our chance to dance around the Midsummer Tree will have to wait! Having been up at 4.45am I think that it will be a room service night. At 7am the siren went off once all the players were in position on their respective holes. I was ready to hit my second shot on the 2nd hole. I played really nicely all day and following a string of pars the action for me happened around the turn where in the space of 5 holes I made 3 birdies and 2 bogeys. A birdie at the par 5 18th hole was a good finish to shoot 69. A quick sandwich and several glasses of water later and I was ready for round two. A quick tip for you all is to make sure you keep re-hydrated on the course - it's too easy to play without taking on board water and your score could suffer as a result because it's much harder to concentrate if you are dehydrated. Starting from the 10th with a birdie, the score built well and with 4 further birdies and only a couple of bogeys I shot 69 again. This should end up putting me somewhere the top10 (not that it matters too much now - just on Sunday!). I won't know until lunchtime on Saturday, because once again the field was not able to finish. I can sleep knowing that some of the guys will be hearing their alarm at 4.30am and many of our friends will be waking up with a heavy head after the midsummer party….Looking forward to challenging for the title this weekend. This is why I'm out on the PGA TOUR…Bye for now…Per

Saturday June 23 - Buick Classic
It was another rainy day in White Plains and yet another day where I didn't get the chance to hit a ball. This is the fifth week in a row of weather interruptions on the TOUR and it is driving everyone crazy! Jill and I set off for the course around 11am and the rain started to pour down as soon as we started to drive. Once there I headed for the gym and worked out with Rick on the bike for 25 minutes and then some stretching for half and hour. After lunch at 1.30 I found out that play was postponed for the day due to the rain. What else can you do in this situation? - yes that's right head for the shopping mall. I found a nice Armani shirt and Jill found a pair of shoes. (How do women always manage to find another pair of shoes?!!) We ate Chinese for dinner at a good restaurant near the hotel before an early night, as we are both still tired after the 35 holes on Friday. I am teeing of at 11.40 tomorrow and it is looking as if we will finish the event on Monday. Play will be in 3 balls. There is even talk of a Tuesday finished the poor weather continues - I've never experienced that in professional golf. Speak to you on Sunday, hopefully with some golf news!..Per

Sunday June 24 - Buick Classic - 72 (+1)
We finally got going again after our enforced lay off yesterday. I didn't have a great day ending up shooting a 72, which is one over the card. The ball just didn't want to roll in today. This has moved me back into a tie for 16th, but well within shot of a top 5 spot tomorrow if I go low. The weather stayed nice the whole day, but the PGA TOUR didn't even try to make up the 36 holes today so we will do it all again tomorrow. Jill and I, Gabriel Hjertstedt, Brett Quigley and his girlfriend Amy are going to a Italian restaurant tonight for dinner, so I've got to go!…Per.

Monday June 25 - Buick Classic - 71 (even)
Another Monday finish to a PGA TOUR event. I teed off at 09.40 this morning and overall had a good day on the tough Westchester course. It was great to finish with a birdie to shoot level par 71 and end up in tied 19th. This will move me through the $300,000 earnings mark on the money list. I'm not sure of my new ranking yet - I'll let you know tomorrow. After the round Jill and I headed into New York for a night out. We are staying at a cool hotel downtown and plan on going into Central Park for a concert. We'll drive on up to Connecticut mid morning as we prepare for the next event, The Canon Greater Hartford Open. We've had a great week in the New York area and I am encouraged by my form which continues to improve, along with my eyes which are now feeling great....Catch up with you after my late practice round on Tuesday...Per

Tuesday June 26 - New York to Cromwell, Conneticut
After a late night dinner in New York we had a late morning start and drove up from New York to Cromwell for the Canon Greater Hartford Open. Having got lost we eventually checked into the usual US "cooker cutter" hotel. This was a bit of a shock after staying at Ian Shrager's magnificent "W" hotel in NY,NY. I drove over to the TPC at Highlands and played 18 holes with Gabriel before heading back to the hotel. Nick arrived in town today and we all went out for dinner...eventually! If you ever meet Gabe don't ask him for directions! We were looking for a steakhouse and after 40 minutes and 2 stops for directions we found Benningans!! Not quite what we had in mind but it was fine. I have an "early - late" on Thursday and Friday. Wednesday, I will have the chance to catch up with Nick on business matters and then head out to hit balls. The Pro-am is on, so no golf on the course for me. Have you seen the rankings? Last weeks result moved me up to my best position of the year to 88th...heading in the right direction. Catch up with you later...Per

Wednesday June 27 - Canon Greater Hartford Open
Another hot day at TPC at River Highlands! It was 90 degrees in the shade. I worked out with Jill in the morning and then headed over to the course at 11ish. I worked on my putting and short game before hitting balls for two hours. Callaway regripped all of my clubs today and I am also experimenting with a different type of grip on another set. Out to dinner tonight at the steakhouse - we will try again to find it!! Got to go I'm late...Per.

Thursday June 28 - Canon Greater Hartford Open - 70 (even)
An early start today at 05.00. I drove to the range and was just about the first person out there after a quick breakfast in the clubhouse. I teed off with Marco Dawson and Paul Stankowski at 7.09. It was a frustrating day with some great shots and some average shots. I did think my score of 70 would put me in reasonable shape, but in actual fact it has put me down in tied 78th and in need of a good day tomorrow. I am playing well and need to remember that. It was one of those days when not a lot went my way and the odd poor shot that I did hit was punished. I was out in 1 over 36, whch is too many because the front nine is easier than the back nine. The driveable 15th, which you can see live on PGATOUR.com is a fun hole and I managed to knock it on the front edge to make birdie. After the round I had lunch with Nick and Jill and then headed back to the range for an hour to hit balls. It was so hot today, someone said it reached 95 and with the humidity it felt like an oven. A cooling beer tonight over dinner tonight shpould help in preparation for my lunchtime tee time tomorrow. Don't forget to enter the competition if you haven't done so already. The draw will be on July 1st and I will announce the winner and the answers to the qusetions. We have had a few interesting answers so far!...Bye for now...Per

Friday June 29 - Canon Greater Hartford Open - 73 (+3)
A bad day at the office! Sorry to report I missed the cut today following a disappointing 73. I started from the 10th today and got off to a terrible start with bogies on 11 and 13. Another came at the difficult 17th.... and then another at the 2nd. I finally got one back at the 3rd, but it was too little too late. Jill and I will head back to Florida on Saturday for a few days before back on the road to Chicago for the Western Open. After the last few weeks this was a poor week. A few days rest will do me some good and then back to the TOUR. I'll catch up with you on Monday. Have a great weekend...Per

Friday June 29 - Hartford, Conneticut
I forgot to mention we are going to see the Back Street Boys and Shaggy in concert tonight. Jill loves the BSB's and the Shaggy album is great...should be fun...Per

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