Parnevik still unhappy with Tiger

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print

PGA Tour golfer Jesper Parnevik, who introduced Tiger Woods to his wife, Elin, continues to say he was "wrong" in setting the pair up.

"I vouched for the guy," Parnevik said in an interview with ESPN's "Outside the Lines," scheduled to air on Sunday (10 a.m. ET, ESPN). "I told her this is the guy that I think is everything you want. He's true. He's honest. He has great values. He has everything you would want in a guy. And uhh, I was wrong."

Parnevik made similar comments last week to The Golf Channel at the PGA Tour's Q-school.

Parnevik and his wife, Mia, introduced Woods to Elin Nordegren in 2001. Nordegren was a nanny for the Parneviks at the time. Parnevik remains close to Nordegren Woods, even referring to her, at times, as a little sister.

"I'm sure she felt very lonely and very small in this whole hoopla and chaos when her whole world was just turned upside down in pretty much 24 hours ...," Parnevik said to OTL. "I was just shocked and pretty much very disappointed in the whole thing and I just really, truly felt for her and the situation she all of a sudden ended up in."

Two other tour pros, quoted on the Web site of the celebrity magazine Life & Style as making disparaging remarks about Woods and his marriage, said Thursday night they never spoke to the publication.

Ben Crane and Charles Warren both said that they were never contacted by the magazine, which has said it is investigating.

"This is unbelievable," Crane told The Associated Press from his Dallas-area home. "I never said a word about anything. They print this and put my name next to it."

Warren said through his agent that he has not given an interview of any kind in two months.

"I have not spoken to Life & Style magazine, so there is no story here," Warren said in a statement.

Crane is quoted as saying Woods is a "phony and a fake" and that Woods' wife knew about allegations of extramarital affairs. Warren is quoted as saying Woods' wife "had stars in her eyes and maybe dollar signs too" and should leave him.

Woods has been the subject of tabloid and Internet speculation and rumors, including reports of extramarital affairs, since he crashed his car into a fire hydrant and tree the day after Thanksgiving. He issued a statement on Dec. 2 apologizing for "transgressions." He also wrote that "I have let my family down."

"We sent an experienced freelance reporter to a golf tournament attended by several PGA pros," Life & Style magazine said in a statement. "Our reporter spoke with two golfers who presented themselves as Ben Crane and Charles Warren. We are taking these claims very seriously and investigating further."

Asked if the magazine took photos of the golfers it interviewed, a spokeswoman declined further comment. Life & Style published the quotes Wednesday afternoon, and several Web sites posted them Thursday.

Also Thursday, Jack Nicklaus, who has 18 major championships to his credit -- four more than Woods -- said that Woods' issues are "none of my business."

He added: "That's a private matter for him and his family."

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print
• Subscribe