VERIZON BYRON NELSON CLASSIC

May 9, 2001

Jose Coceres

JOSE COCERES: First of all, I'm very happy. My friends and family were very happy for me second place, and happy that I had fulfilled a promise that I had made in Argentina for walking the 35 kilometers for the Virgin of Lujan, but I never thought the country would be so happy for the tournament I won because I didn't think I was going to -- I didn't expect it to be that joyful for the whole country.

JOSE COCERES: It was something incredible, because when I got to the airport, there was quite a bit of newspapers and media, even though I said I was going to have another press conference, but it was very difficult to stop it. It took me an hour and a half just to get out. I wanted to get out of the airport. I couldn't get out -- it took me about an hour and a half to two hours to get out.

JOSE COCERES: Well, in the first place I will try to keep on working as always. Because of that work, I achieve what I did, and now I'll keep on working with the same teachers and the same physical trainer and working to work always towards the next tournament.

JOSE COCERES: Probably about 15 to 16, in the United States. One of the things that happened was we didn't start well in the year. I didn't win early enough in the year, so -- we didn't start well as far as the organization, but we started well winning.

JOSE COCERES: Right now, I'm thinking playing the maximum amount of tournaments here, and it would probably be a good idea to complete my 11 tournaments in Europe, but it may be a little bit difficult. I think that would be a good idea, to have a home base here in the United States.

JOSE COCERES: I think that golf in Argentina is growing, and I think that last year, we did a very good job in Europe and in the United States, was very good. Additionally, Angel Cabrera was playing -- played well in Argentina, won the Argentine Open, which is part of the European Tour. But what hurts me the most is right now, the golf in Argentina can't grow as rapidly as maybe it should. There are a lot of players in Argentina that can't play tournaments because there aren't enough sanctioned and effectively run tournaments. With all of the players that are in Europe and the United States, it is unfortunate that all of the Argentine players can't develop as well as other countries, and having especially good players down there.

JOSE COCERES: I'm not an entrepreneur or businessman, but I understand that the country is not at the level -- is not at a strong economic level. There's a lot of unemployment, but little by little, we need to -- we need to improve it. There's a lot of companies that only support strong tournaments and they don't support the smaller tournaments. So there was a lot of support for the European Tour events that were in Argentina for the World Cup, but there really can't for the local Argentine tour.

JOSE COCERES: Argentina used to have 12 to 15, but this year there will be much less than that.

JOSE COCERES: About $70,000 for the purse. So probably somewhere around 15,000 for the first place. Sometimes what I do is when I go back home, I actually play in some of those events, even though they are -- there's no economic value to me, but it helps out the tournament sponsors and the event itself.

JOSE COCERES: I think that the level is there, but in Argentina, there's a lot of sponsors or managers that would like to promote the players, but at the same time, they may promote the player inefficiently and they don't promote them enough to come out. Probably the answer there is there is grass-roots support there for high-quality play, and there is no infrastructure to give them an easy way to come out, so they don't come out. There's a saying that you can sew the seeds, but if you reap it too soon, you don't reap anything.

JOSE COCERES: It's a country that I really enjoy. There's a stability here and there's a way of working here that is much better. I've always liked coming to see other events. I came about five years ago to play the World Cup and I liked it quite a bit, and really, I'm fortunate enough to play here, because of my win, and I'm going to have one or two more years to enjoy it.

JOSE COCERES: No, I think I'm going to play just like I play normally. I'm going to come in probably Sunday, Monday at the latest. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday is three days -- three days are enough to see the event and the site.

JOSE COCERES: Last year in Pebble Beach -- not the U.S. Open, the PGA.

JOSE COCERES: Mostly haven't heard, but seen on television. The public and because of the way the course was set up, and how the course was set up, now I'm fortunate enough to be inside the ropes on it.

JOSE COCERES: I just enjoy playing with the public, and what I really enjoyed here -- when I played at Hilton Head, the public was very supportive, and I -- you know, you always look for the best way to play, but -- and to demonstrate to the public how well you're playing so that you have response from them, and they do. I've always enjoyed playing in front of the public, both here and in Europe.

JOSE COCERES: Well, I think in Argentina, most of the pros come from very humble families, who are mostly caddies. They don't come from the Amateur league; they come from the caddie leagues. Just like anything else, you start like I did -- well, not like I did, because the way I started was very difficult. It was very difficult, and today in Argentina, there's a lot more support for the little kids, and there's schools where you can -- even my children, they already invited them to a school they could go and learn how to play golf. So, this makes me think that it has changed quite a bit since I started. What I didn't have at the beginning, my sons now have.

JOSE COCERES: I started about 11 years old, and I remember -- I was born in the country, and everybody -- the whole family, there's 11, we all picked up and went to another city that had a golf course and we lived near the golf course. And I remember very much that before you got to the club, there was this -- there was a hill between our house and the golf course, and a lot of the kids would put their golf sticks -- because they made sticks out of wood and they would leave them there. Whenever you had extra time, the caddies would go out and play with us, and I became friends with the caddies so I could play with their sticks, and literally, sticks. Next trip, I'm going to bring a stick so you guys can actually see what it really looks like.