Move over, Cameron Smith.
There’s a new king of the bad hairdo in professional golf and his name is Jesper Parnevik.
The 57-year-old Swede, still fit as a fiddle, arrived in Houston for the Insperity Invitational this week with a head of lettuce that makes Smith’s distinctive mullet look tame. It almost distracts from the fact that he’s also rocking a nifty stache too.
The initial reaction to seeing a photo of Parnevik was best summed up on the Monday Q Twitter feed: “If you say you knew this was Jesper Parnevik you’re a damn liar.”
"It started as a bet that I couldn't cut my hair until I won a tournament, and the bad thing is I haven't played since September." – @JesperParnevik pic.twitter.com/WCCu8DjcBi
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) April 25, 2022
Parnevik looks as if he’s wearing a wig as a disguise for the TV show “Undercover Boss,” or has joined the witness protection program. His appearance has been compared to Mr. Brady in “The Brady Bunch,” one of the highway patrolmen on “Chips,” and an older version of Rickie Fowler. Golf writer Robert Lusetich noted a striking resemblance to a young Corey Pavin.
In a social media posting from PGA Tour Champions, Parnevik explained his new look: “It started as a bet that I couldn’t cut my hair until I won a tournament, and the bad thing is I haven’t played since September.”
The Champions Tour, where @JesperParnevik can become Corey Pavin 😳 pic.twitter.com/eVC59SXqjN
— Robert Lusetich (@RobertLusetich) April 25, 2022
Parnevik always has been one of golf’s odd-ball characters, known for eating volcanic dust as a dietary supplement, the flipped-bill hat, and disco-era trousers and other golf apparel back when he repped gear designed by Johan Lindeberg. The great Dan Jenkins once described his fashion sense as “the last guy to climb out of the clown car at the circus.”
Parnevik won five times on the PGA Tour, four times on the DP World Tour and once on PGA Tour Champions. That title came at the Insperity Invitational in 2016. If he truly isn’t going to cut his hair until he wins, Parnevik could be in for a hair-raising experience.
