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JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 8, 2004

Jose Coceres

SILVIS, ILLINOIS

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Jose, thank you for joining us here for a few minutes in the media center. Great round today. You had a lot of fun out there.

JOSE COCERES: Thank you.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Why don't you talk about your round a little bit, how you played, and then we'll go into questions.

JOSE COCERES: I started on the 10th hole, made birdie there. Didn't make birdie on the 12th hole.

Then on the 14th hole, and 16, 17, and 18 and finished 6-under.

Then I made birdie on hole No. 1, No. 2, No. 8, and I got up-and-down from the green on No. 9 -- from the bunker on No. 9.

Q. When you get off to a hot start the way you did, is it hard to keep thoughts of maybe shooting 59 or 60 out of your head and just concentrate on what you have in front of you?

JOSE COCERES: It's very important to have a lot of confidence. When you get sort of like that you've got to have more confidence. I wasn't really thinking about it. I got some birdies, playing well, and got to 4-under, then that gave me more confidence to attack the later holes, ended up going 9 under.

I felt that the front nine was easier than the back nine, so that's what I probably could do better.

Q. What is the name of the shrine that you walk to when you win a tournament and can you explain the significance of that?

JOSE COCERES: I'm not clear what you mean by the shrine.

Q. In the media guide in your bio, it says there's a shrine that you walk to after a tournament in your hometown.

JOSE COCERES: The first time I won, I walked 36 kilometers to where there's a shrine of the Virgin Mary. I do that kind of like because I won the tournament. Sometimes I'll do it if somebody is sick in my family. I didn't promise anything this time because I'm old.

Q. You grew up in a family of 11, slept six to a bed. The first golf club I guess was the branch of a tree. Can you talk about learning the game with your background and the difficulty you encountered?

JOSE COCERES: Yeah, I came from a humble family, and my first golf clubs were branches from trees that were cut down. There were some members that were nice to lend me and my friends clubs when we were young, and I'm very grateful because I enjoy my game and I do my job.

All my family is doing much better now.

Q. Four of you are pros now. How did golf come to be part of your family history?

JOSE COCERES: It was easier than studying. For golf you don't have to study, and I lived so close to the golf course that it was very easy to bring my family into it.

Q. Was it a country club?

JOSE COCERES: Anybody could play there. It's a public course. I still couldn't really play there because it would cost money to play.

Q. How did you learn?

JOSE COCERES: The members were really important because I was a caddie. They would give me money and lend me golf clubs. I hope that one day I can bring -- I also used branches from trees and would make golf clubs out of branches from the trees, and I hope I can bring them up to the U.S. and show them to people.

Q. You still have the branches?

JOSE COCERES: Yeah, I still have some of them. In Argentina I made some exhibitions for them just to laugh at. I hit my old clubs.

Q. What do you shoot with those?

JOSE COCERES: I can hit it 200 meters in a par 3, but it's too hard to approach with those clubs. When I can play with a tee, there's no problem.

Q. Is it a full set of clubs?

JOSE COCERES: I have several. I would usually play with only one. But if I were going to go play 18 holes, I would make different ones with different lofts.

One time I had to walk 60 kilometers to visit my grandmother, and I took one of my clubs, and I had these corks, I'm not completely sure what they look like, they're not like wine corks, they're different types of corks, and I hit that at my grandmother's house. Sometimes I would get little sticks and use them as tees.

We would often play in a field that was only 30 meters long, so you don't want to hit a golf club very far because you can make a full swing and it won't go that far.

Q. How did that influence your swing and your game starting with those rudimentary clubs?

JOSE COCERES: My swing is perfect (laughter). When you're humble, you've just got to do it whichever way you can. I compare myself to a soccer player that doesn't have a soccer ball. They'll wrap up their socks and play with socks.

Q. Do those humble beginnings make you appreciate more of what you have now?

JOSE COCERES: I'm very happy right now. Golf has given me a lot of great things. I really appreciate everything I have. Also, I haven't been able to be with my family.

Q. Are you recovered fully from that 2002 injury with the broken arm or do you feel any effects of that still?

JOSE COCERES: I had forgotten about that. I just remember it now that you mention it.

Q. Did it bother you last year? At what point were you fully recovered from that?

JOSE COCERES: It bothered me a lot when I broke my arm, but last year it didn't bother me anymore.

Q. What were the circumstances of a broken arm? Was it just an accident?

JOSE COCERES: I was playing soccer.

Q. With whom?

JOSE COCERES: I was playing with kids from my neighborhood. Now I play soccer with my hands tied.

Q. You hit the cork all the way to your grandmother's house, the whole 60 kilometers?

JOSE COCERES: No. I walked 60 kilometers to my grandmother's and there she had fields and there I would practice.

I call those times "the times of the thin cow." When you don't have money, you're thinner, and when you have more money, the cow starts getting fatter.

Q. How often did you walk to your grandmother's to hit the cork?

JOSE COCERES: I was born in the same town as my grandmother, and then my father is now passed away. We moved to the city and then my grandmother got ill and I went to take care of her. I went to live with her. Now I don't have time to take care of her because I have to play golf.

Q. Who takes care of her?

JOSE COCERES: She already passed away.

Q. Can we go through your nine birdies today? You started on 10?

JOSE COCERES: Yes.

Q. You birdied No. 10, you used driver --

JOSE COCERES: Drive, 5-wood, sand wedge, 60-degree, one-putted from maybe three meters, about nine feet.

12, the par 3, 5-iron to three feet.

No. 14, the par 4, 5-wood, sand wedge, maybe nine feet.

16, the par 3, 8-iron maybe three feet, one meter.

17, the par 5, drive, 3-wood, chipping, maybe 12 feet.

18, the par 4, drive, 7-iron, hole-out, maybe 15 meters, 20 meters, 45 feet.

No. 1, par 4, drive, sand wedge, five meters, so 15 feet.

No. 2, the par 5, drive, 5-wood, two-putted from maybe 12 feet.

Birdie on No. 8, par 4, 8-iron, maybe 12 meters, maybe 36 feet.

Q. What kind of clubs do you play?

JOSE COCERES: Taylor Made. They're very cheap, no pay (laughter). Before, no money, no club. Now, money, but the club is free (laughter).

Q. How often do you get back home?

JOSE COCERES: You just reminded me of my last time I went down there because on the way back, I got on a plane and it was going to be a very long flight and I watched a bunch of movies and fell asleep. I was waking up as we were about to land. I heard the pilot apologizing for the inconvenience, and I said, what inconvenience, it's all perfect, because I could see lights just outside the window. They told us that they were landing back in Buenos Aires. So we flew toward the U.S., turned back around and landed back in Buenos Aires.

Q. So how often do you get back?

JOSE COCERES: Maybe seven, maybe eight times a year.

Q. Where are your brothers? Do they play on Tour or are they club professionals?

JOSE COCERES: They just play the golf tours in Argentina. There aren't that many tournaments, but they play there and they wait for me to go back.

They're great for me. When I need them they go back and they play with me and practice with me.

Q. Are you competitive? Do you try to beat each other?

JOSE COCERES: No, it's not very competitive. We just go practice and hit plenty of balls. They go with me to accompany me as I'm practicing. They have much more time to practice than I do, so they just watch me practice really.

End of FastScripts.

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