Parnevik beats Love & Mickelson in playoff

Jesper Parnevik forgot to light his victory cigar.

Perhaps he was still in shock over missing a 1-foot putt that nearly cost him in the GTE Byron Nelson Classic, or he was too worn out by a thrilling, three-man, three-hole playoff. Maybe he just didn't want to rub it in.

After all, Parnevik's dramatic victory today came at the expense of hard-luck Davis Love III, who missed two short putts on the 18th hole in a span of 50 minutes to extend his winless streak on the PGA Tour to 48 events.

"Happy Mother's Day," Love graciously told Mia Parnevik as he walked off the 18th green, once again having to settle for consolation instead of congratulations.

In a tournament in which only hard-charging Tiger Woods avoided blunders, Parnevik overcame a shocking miss from a foot away earlier in the round to win the tournament with a par on the third extra hole.

Love caught a huge break when he was given relief from newly laid sod left of the 18th green. He chipped to 5 feet, but missed the par putt.

"If I had taken care of business yesterday and today, I could have put it out of reach," said Love, who played the weekend in even par. "To let it get away from me was the disappointing thing."

Love's bogey left Parnevik only a short putt for his second victory of the year. It was gimme length, but not after what happened on the 12th hole when Parnevik somehow missed from about the same distance.

He recovered with two birdies for a 4-under-par 66 that got him in the playoff with Love (69) and Mickelson (65) at 11-under 269.

"After the putt missed on 12, I didn't see getting in a playoff," Parnevik said. "I was shocked after that. I was happy to get in a playoff. That was a huge bonus. This whole year has been a big bonus."

Parnevik, Europe's top player in the 1999 Ryder Cup Matches, won for the second time this year. He joined Woods and Hal Sutton as the only players to earn over $2 million this year on the PGA Tour and will move into the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

"I've never had a year like this," said Parnevik, who has had eight top-10 finishes in 12 events.

Phil Mickelson bogeyed the 72nd hole to lose a one-stroke lead and was eliminated on the par-3 17th, the second playoff hole, when his 15-foot birdie putt lipped out.

Love stayed alive with a 20-foot birdie on the same hole, but will look back on two critical misses on the 18th. He had an 8-foot birdie putt in regulation that would have given him his first victory in more than two years. It was the seventh time Love has finished second since his last victory in the 1998 MCI Classic.

Woods nearly pulled off the greatest final-round comeback of his career, with another eagle from the fairway.

Seven shots back to start the final round, he closed with a 63, his lowest final round ever as a professional. But he missed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th and wound up one stroke out of the playoff at 270, along John Huston (70), the third-round co-leader with Love.

Butch Harmon, who caught a red-eye from Las Vegas early Saturday to help Woods with posture problems, patted him on the back before he went to the first tee and told him, "See you on the driving range before the playoff."

He was almost right.

It was the 16th time in his last 19 PGA Tour events that Woods has finished in the top five.

Parnevik earned $720,000 for his fourth career PGA Tour victory, and improved to 1-1 in final rounds in which he has worn hot pink pants that look like a Pepto-Bismol bottle. He also wore them in the Nissan Open, where Kirk Triplett made a 4-footer on the last hole to beat Parnevik by one stroke.

Parnevik found himself rooting for Triplett that day because Triplett had gone 266 tournaments without ever winning. He felt the same way today.

"I know Davis wants to win so bad," Parnevik said. "He's such a great guy and a great player. He should win one of these."

Mickelson surged into contention with birdies on the first two holes and an eagle on No. 7, and he took the lead with a 20-foot birdie on the 17th. He pumped his fist twice, rare emotion for Mickelson, but a sign that he felt he had this one in the bag.

He hadn't made a bogey in 32 holes, but after a poor tee shot into the left rough, he caught a plugged lie in the greenside bunker after his second shot on the 18th hole and two-putted for bogey from 25 feet to fall to 11-under.

"I came up short,'' said Mickelson, trying to join Woods as a three-time winner this year. "I was expecting to have a 15-footer for birdie and instead I had an almost impossible par. That was a disappointing finish."

Woods and David Duval, the top two players in the World Ranking, were paired alone in the final round for the first time, both of them seven shots out of the lead.

What emerged was more evidence that Duval's putter is holding him back -- and that no lead is safe when Woods is on his game.

From 99 yards away in the fourth fairway, his sand wedge hit next to the hole, hopped twice and spun back into the cup for an eagle, bringing back memories of Pebble Beach when his eagle from the 15th fairway led to a seven-stroke comeback.

The gallery behind the green responded like fans behind the goal posts after a game-winning field goal. Woods never saw the ball go in.

"It's hard to get excited over a shot when you never saw it," Woods said. "At least at Pebble, I could see it."

With a two-putt birdie on the 16th, Woods got to 10-under and, for the first time all week, was in a tie for the lead. His chance to get in the playoff ended with a birdie putt that just caught the left lip.

"I knew if I could make that putt it might make things interesting," Woods said.

The Nelson Classic had all the excitement it could take for one week.

DIVOTS: The three-man playoff was the largest in the Nelson Classic for a 72-hole tournament. ... Duval finished with an even-par 70, only the second time this year he has failed to break par in the final round. Then again, he has yet to lead in the final round of any tournament this year. He'll try again next week at Colonial, but not before suiting up for batting practice with the Texas Rangers on Monday. ... Jerry Smith, who had earned just $3,358 for his career on the PGA Tour, had a 67 to tie for ninth. He earned $116,000.

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