INVITED CELEBRITY CLASSIC

April 21, 2024

Demarcus Ware

Las Colinas Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. DeMarcus, coming off of the final round but also the second round after a day off, how were you feeling about your game?

DEMARCUS WARE: I feel really good about my game. I played what I wanted to shoot, but it's still not good enough for a tournament. But then yesterday got canceled. Usually I get eliminated on the second day. But I guess God gave me the third day and said you need to come out here because there's some sunshine. It's feels really good to be out here competing in a sport to where there's progression every single day, just like football.

Feeling great. There's no rain. Great weather. I'm glad to see all the fans out today having a good time, and just ready to get after it.

Q. Anything you've learned this week from any of the players you've been paired up with?

DEMARCUS WARE: Every pairing, each one of the professional PGA guys, have showed me from a point to where, all right, DeMarcus, make sure your backswing is consistent, it doesn't have to be as long. You have a lot of club head speed. Make sure you get your hands on the ball and turn your body. All that sounds simple, but you've got to do that 100 times. It's like you're kicking a field goal every single time or scoring a touchdown every time. You've got to be consistent.

One thing that one of the guys told me, he said, it doesn't matter how you get there, it's the score that ends up on the paper. So wait a minute, you don't have to use your driver because you're hitting it 260 yards with your 18-degree if your driver is not where you need it to be. Guess what, use your other clubs. You don't have to be like everybody else. Be like yourself because that's what you're playing against.

Q. You know this course well; it's your home course. Got a little wet yesterday.

DEMARCUS WARE: It did.

Q. How much does that help you or hurt your game when it's a little softer like that?

DEMARCUS WARE: I think that's not even a problem because they take care of this course, and everybody that takes care of this course, the groundsmen and everybody that works here, you can look at this course, and we probably had about three or four inches everywhere in Texas yesterday, rain all day. I would say 94 percent yesterday. I don't know how I like that number.

But the club now is clean. The fairways are dry. I can even look from here, and they're pretty dry, and I can see the guys putting on not water or puddle areas. It's just kudos to them for taking care of this course and getting it as dry as possible.

Q. What do you like about playing these tournaments? It's a celebrity tournament, but do you think I got to meet this person, or do you ever find yourself being a fan a little bit?

DEMARCUS WARE: Yeah, a lot of the guys that are here, some of the actors or some of the other players from other sports like Ray Allen, I always like to meet him, and then my boy Dwight Freeney, he's out here, just to name a few -- Tony Romo. You still get that locker room vibe that everybody says they miss, if it's playing golf, if it's tennis, if it's in a celebrity/actor type role. You miss that camaraderie, so you get that back out here, but you get some different fans that are rooting for you, which is one of the coolest things.

Q. What do you think the Cowboys should be looking for in the first round of the draft?

DEMARCUS WARE: Let me cut you off because we've got to be somebody controlling that yardage. You've got to have a running back that's going to chew those yards up and take a lot of that pressure off of Dak Prescott. They're scoring the points, but are you managing the clock the best way, and that's when it comes to winning football games later on in the season. You've got to have a running back where if you give him the ball or he goes in the game, there is probably a 90 percent chance you're going to give it to him because he's getting three or four yards no matter if he gets hit behind the line of scrimmage. He's still eating up that clock.

I would say running back for sure. That's one thing that we need, or maybe even a couple. Get a good one from the draft, then maybe go into free agency and get an older guy that can teach him to be dialed in and how to just control that line of scrimmage and yardage.

Q. You were a draft pick yourself; you didn't know where you were going to go. There's a lot of kids out there right now, they don't know where they're going to go. But here you are, Hall of Famer now. How surreal is it that this is where you're at now, playing at a celebrity golf tournament in Dallas, supporting the city, and basically the whole career --

DEMARCUS WARE: Yeah, it's one of the coolest things because when I was younger, I didn't know anything about golf. It was how do you get out of the projects. You've got to play basketball, football, baseball, things that are in your community. Golf wasn't in my community.

Now working so hard through college and through the NFL and you being a staple of Texas, a staple of Alabama, they have days named after you -- I think two days ago was DeMarcus Ware day in Alabama, and then you have days here in the state of Texas that lets you know that your hard work really paid off, but how are you going to use your platform.

I think to me, I always praise God first and sort of spread that through the kids, and that's the reason why I'm out here now. It's not because I'm trying to be the best golfer. I'm trying to spread the word that's going to keep living each and every day. They keep bringing me back because I keep spreading those smiles, and I treat everybody how they want to be treated.

That's the coolest thing, I always just go back to that, and it's a surreal moment that God gave me this opportunity every day to go do it.

Q. At this time last year we could not say Hall-of-Famer DeMarcus Ware. Now we can. What's it like for you to have that title as you go everywhere?

DEMARCUS WARE: A title is a title. That shows the hard work that you put in in saying that you're the best of the best. When my son said, dad, you're the GOAT, it sort of took a little time to sink in, hmm, the greatest of all time. But that took a little time, a lot of dedication to get there. Like I said, that's a surreal moment, not the fans saying it, but when your family says it and when your son is trying to follow in your footsteps, that's when it hits hard and hits home.

Q. What was that emotion like when you were in Canton?

DEMARCUS WARE: The emotion was -- usually a lot of guys don't get this except draft day. You think about, okay, where am I going to get drafted, and in a split second when they call your name, your life is going to change. Your bank account is going to change. The people around you, cousins and uncles and nephews, they're going to come out, too. It's the same.

You get another opportunity on the biggest platform ever to share your life experiences in the story that you speak. That was another moment that was life-changing to me, to say that, first of all, you're the best at what you did. Now you're an icon to be able to spread the word forever.

I'm still just soaking it in right now.

Q. It was a quiet off-season so far for the cowboys, but what do you think they need to add in addition to the running back you alluded to? What else do they need to add to be a championship-caliber team?

DEMARCUS WARE: It's not a person, it's a mentality, and that's tenacity. Tenacity in the off-season, that's where it starts at. When they say the blood, sweat and tears of mini-camp, training camp, OTAs, that's when men are made. They aren't made when the lights turn on. Real men are made in the dark.

If they can really dial in when things aren't going that well and it really don't matter, now when it does matter they're really going to appreciate them, and they're going to get further in the post season.

Q. What inspired you or made you want to compete in this Invited tournament?

DEMARCUS WARE: What made me want to compete in this tournament is opportunity just like this. When kids come up to me and ask me why I do it. I do it because of you, because that's where it starts. One person came to me, which was Bo Jackson, and said, DeMarcus, I think you should play football, at a time where I thought I couldn't do it. Now I'm here on the biggest platform ever and saying I'm the best.

I'm sitting right here telling you the same thing: Whatever you want to do, however you want to do it, you can do it, and now you have a platform to do it. You're right here. Right where I'm at. Talking on the microphone. The cameras are right there. Spreading the joy with kids and the community work. When we're able to come out here and spread our celebrity and get money for it, you guys or whoever it is to spread the word of greatness, that's the reason why I'm here, and that's the only reason why I'm here.