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By Vartan Kupelian
Special to PGATOUR.com

GRAND BLANC, Mich. -- Jesper Parnevik hit a 4-iron off the first tee at Warwick Hills Golf Club in Thursday's opening round of the Buick Open. The hole is a par 5 with out-of-bounds left.

Jesper Parnevik's driving accuracy has steadily improved all week at Warwick Hills. (WireImage)

Parnevik knew what he was facing.

"There was no way my ball was going to stay in-bounds with a driver," said Parnevik, who was fighting a serious case of the hooks.

So how does a guy who said his first round score could have been "an 80 in a heartbeat" turn it around so dramatically? Parnevik saved the first round often enough to shoot even-par 72 and backed it up with 68.

On Saturday, his misgivings with the driver were history. Parnevik pured his way to an 8-under 64 to take the early third-round lead at Warwick Hills. He's at 12-under 204 and the smile under his pork-pie hat couldn't have been much bigger.

"It's good every time you post a low number," Parnevik said. "Like I said, I did not feel very good coming into this week. I've been struggling the whole year. I broke my finger in the second tournament of the year. I broke my toe about six weeks ago. I had hip surgery. My body is pretty much done."

But he demonstrated Saturday there's still plenty of game left.

"It's a very, very weird game, where you can have it one day, you can lose it for two months all of a sudden, and then it's back for three years and you don't even know what happened," he said.

"I mean, it's such a confidence-oriented game. If you can get confidence and make aggressive swings at it where you feel good through the ball, it's an easy game. When your mind is full of doubts and you have no way of knowing if it's going to duck hook or go straight right, you cannot even aim anymore."

Parnevik drove it well enough Saturday to make birdie on all four par fives. He also made birdie on the first three par threes. His only bogey came at the 17th, a par 3.

"I hit every fairway and every green until the 17th hole," Parnevik said. "It's a weird game."

Parnevik is proud of the way he has driven the ball the past two days after the self-doubts which forced him to choose a long iron off the first tee.

"The second round I ripped a driver, a power fade, and both of my playing partners looked at me and said that was the most impressive thing we've ever seen on TOUR," he said. "They were expecting that thing to go 200 yards O.B. left."

Parnevik is looking for his first victory since the 2001 Honda Classic. It's the same year Kenny Perry, who shared this year's 36-hole lead at the Buick Open with Brett Quigley and Jim Furyk, won the Buick Open. Perry did it by shooting consecutive 64s in the second and third rounds.

Does Parnevik have another 64 waiting in Sunday's final round?

"Yes, if I play like today, definitely," he said. "It was a very easy 64. You cannot scramble yourself around this golf course and shoot 64. You have to hit every fairway or put yourself in position to make birdies. If you play well, you're going to shoot low scores."