WORLDCOM CLASSIC--THE HERITAGE OF GOLF

April 16, 2001

Jose Coceres

JOSE COCERES: We weren't very -- it -- unfortunately, we had to go back last night as opposed to finishing yesterday. But I threw out my alarm clock thinking we are not going to use this one. It was old, he said we are not going to need it again because we are leaving today. We had to go fishing for it. The battery was a little dead. The other one was out the door. Last night, rubbed the battery a little bit, warmed it up so this morning it would work. But either way, I woke up at 5:20 even though the alarm was set for 6:15, so after 5:15 the eyes popped open, I couldn't go back to sleep. From 5:20 to 6 o'clock or 6:30, I worked on the towel for my friends and family so that I could give them a little joy back home.

JOSE COCERES: "For all my family, for all my friends, for all the Argentines that love me and a million thanks for everything."

JOSE COCERES: Yes. It was the same towel that I used in Dubai -- oh, it is the same wording he used in Dubai when he won last year on the European Tour.

JOSE COCERES: Different towel. I apologize to our host this week because there is a pillow case missing: I don't think you can do that in the United States, but today I sort of did it.

JOSE COCERES: Pillow case.

JOSE COCERES: It was always my thought that I was going to win this tournament, but not with such a high difficulty. I had the first chance on the 18th hole for a 3-footer, and later on, I had to make an unbelievable 3 on 17. Then 18, I played from the hazard and I am happy that the crocodile wasn't around there (laughter), because I have seen it around this place; there are a lot of crocodiles. But I made an incredible approach, I think everybody who was behind me helped that ball go closer to the hole.

JOSE COCERES: I had a lot of grass behind, you couldn't see it very well. It was a lot, and making sure that I'd put it on the green was very important under a normal tournament. The difficulty was that I needed to put it not only on the green, but I needed to put it near the hole because I needed to make a 4 just to go to the next hole. I didn't only look for the green, I looked to getting closer to the hole. If I missed it just a hair, I could have gone back into the hazard and that would have been it.

JOSE COCERES: I was a little bit hurt after the putt on 18, the short putt on 18 I missed, and Billy hits first and that -- then I played, tried to hit it with a little bit of a pull to put it closer to the green, but instead it went into the bunker. I hit it maybe a couple of feet longer and it would have been much closer to the hole. I wanted to leave it closer than him before he hit his next shot because if he makes me hit my third shot before, it would have changed everything. I make a bogey and he gets it close and that is that. I wanted to make sure that I was closer to the ball, closer to the hole than Billy was so that I could putt after Billy, therefore, I won't give the tournament away with a bogey.

JOSE COCERES: Same line. The first putt was a lot shorter. It was about two feet shorter. But I think I played the second putt better. That was a little bit more difficult.

JOSE COCERES: Maybe four feet.

JOSE COCERES: When I shot 64 I knew that I had a chance because -- and Vijay playing very well, put himself in first place on Saturday, meaning after I was leading on Saturday and then Vijay Singh came in and started leading, led afterwards, I knew I had a chance at that point as I talked to you. It was very important to me, as we have discussed it, very important to me to either end up in the Top-10 to accumulate enough money to come to the American Tour.

JOSE COCERES: About a year ago I changed management. Last year I had discussions with previous management that basically said: Hey, when you have a good round, you have trouble having a good round after that. So I said I was having trouble having a back-to-back round. I have been trying to work on that and this week I really worked on my putting, tried to reduce the number of putts and greens in relation.

JOSE COCERES: I hope the next ones aren't like this (laughter). I hope the next one isn't like this. It cost a lot coming here because I had to not play in a tournament in Argentina which was the Argentine Open because I have a lot of public and a lot of friends over there that follow me, and it was very important for me to come and play one or two weeks before so that I would be ready for the Masters and the Worldcom. That helped.

JOSE COCERES: Right now, I am not sure. Three weeks ago I came from Argentina, they told me I was a European Tour player. Some people have criticized me for coming to play over here.

JOSE COCERES: I think that now they may not criticize me anymore because I demonstrated that I can play, I can come here and play well or anywhere else in the world.

JOSE COCERES: This year I have improved somewhat on my swing working to find the feel and then -- working with a gentleman named Raoul Prieto and that helped quite a bit to help me hit it a little bit longer. And now this tournament and this win, I think that I will be able to work a little bit and since I feel more confident, I will be able to swing a little bit looser and get a little bit more distance. I have never played like I played like Saturday and Sunday. I have never hit it straight on Saturday -- as I did on Saturday, and Sunday as well. But on Sunday the back nine probably didn't work very well, and the 6th hole was really --

JOSE COCERES: For someone who comes over here and is really fighting, you sometimes don't play as loose and as comfortable, that is why after we spoke on Friday and with the caddie, Saturday we had to really just say: Okay, now that you are in, just go for it, relax, and I thank you and I thank my caddie that has helped me for these two rounds, Saturday especially, that gave me the chance to win.

JOSE COCERES: It was different because yesterday we had a lot of players behind me. I wanted to make sure that you know, obviously, second place made a big difference coming in -- the way I played at the beginning, it gave me a lot of opportunities and I should have finished it off yesterday, but second place would have been great.

JOSE COCERES: Very important for me. Obviously, you are looking for a difference. It has nothing to do with the money. At that point you are looking for exemptions, looking for the trophy, looking for the win. First time in 33 years an Argentine wins --

JOSE COCERES: I am and I will be.

JOSE COCERES: At this moment I am thinking about it to see what the rest of the schedule will look like. I am going to go to Argentina today and I will determine what -- how to set out the rest of the schedule. But obviously I will play some tournaments in Europe. But I will do whatever possible to play more here.

JOSE COCERES: Absolutely.

JOSE COCERES: No, but when I was young I would go practice and I would imagine myself practicing, I'd have -- I would imagine people clapping when I hit a shot and I would think to myself, you know, get the gratification by myself. It is like a crazy man that gives thanks to the people who are there but he is alone. That has helped quite a bit because it gave me a lot of mental fortitude to give me the confidence to keep on working on it.

JOSE COCERES: The whole week was really great because everybody supported me throughout the week. The first time I played on Monday where I have gotten to the 1st tee with an Argentine flag, and that many people here on a Monday morning, on the green and in the stands and that has helped quite a bit. I know that the majority that were there were supporting me and they were there yesterday, but when I finished yesterday, I was playing basically hole-by-hole. But everybody was supporting me and at the same time, I didn't want to relax because I have seen tournaments where a player is tied and so relaxed because of the public and later on lost because of that. So I wanted to be with the public and pay attention and accept them, but I really wanted to concentrate. I didn't want to relax because sometimes to relax you make mistakes.

JOSE COCERES: Probably some pressure. I am going to play a little bit more relaxed now, now that I have played and I have won on this Tour, it will probably take some pressure off. But I have been playing the putt that poorly, (inaudible) I shouldn't have trouble on the short putts, so therefore, I will work on that. After talking to me (meaning the interpreter), I told them this Tour really two or three putts makes the difference in the tournament.

JOSE COCERES: Now I have got to work on the shorter putts. And I think it will -- I think it is more pressure off of me. I have taken the monkey off my back for the win.

JOSE COCERES: That is a 10-year career. Let me --

JOSE COCERES: 12, thirteen years I started as a caddie. 13 or 14, we started hitting around with the other caddies. On Monday, we played for a few dollars. Whenever we won Saturday or Sunday with our friends we would try to go out and play. And if we wanted to have money 'til Friday we had to play well. I remember well that when I would play with my three brothers against one guy that had a meat packing plant, and he was a sponsor of two other players so we would play 3s and we would give him a little bit of an advantage -- we would give him strokes. And basically, we never won the whole 18, but we always would win only nine holes so the meat packer ended up winning on a regular basis. I didn't even get any meat out of the guy. But with whatever, we won, it got us all the way 'til Friday, Saturday to start all over again. I lost a year and a half in military service in Argentina which is forced military service. I had a job where I was a century and I could see the golf course, and I never told the boss that I could play golf, that I had won some caddie tournaments because I was afraid - because I could have played with the boss, but I was afraid of telling him. Then I played in a tournament in my province, which is called Chaco, near Paraguay lowlands, where I came in 11th. I won a little bit of money and that is sort of how it started.

JOSE COCERES: Then after that, my brother, who is a professional, younger than me, helped me and said I have to play the Tour school in Buenos Aires, and I did.

JOSE COCERES: After that, I played with my brother, became a professional and the Tour school in Argentina and I didn't have any money so I had to start working with a body shop. I had problems with my boss. He told me I have to either -- he said, you can either play golf or keep on working here. I said I will help you out a little bit under the table. I am still waiting for him to help me out (laughter) I wanted -- he wanted to get me out of the job as opposed to paying me. I am thanking him quite a bit that he got me out. Made me play golf. After that I played the school again, Gino Fernandez, Vicente Fernandez' brother helped me out quite a bit when -- who found 10 sponsors, club members who put some money in, a two-year contract with them; two years basically, we divided up the money for those two years and they won with me both of those years. It was 50/50 but then after that at the end they said: Keep it all, keep going. At that point I found another manager who is the current manager of Eduardo Romero because I needed someone to help me -- I needed additional help to get to Europe. I played ten years on the European Tour through that management. December 1999 I finished with them and I won in January of 2000, so it was a proper time. It was four months to complete the 10-year contract. Two months after that I won in Dubai and had a great year last year. This year you have seen what happened this year.

JOSE COCERES: My next tournament I made a promise to myself that I would walk 35 miles. He has got a little -- kilometers, sorry. He is going to walk to a shrine where there is a little virgin shrine where he gives a little prayer of thanks. I have done it twice and I will do it again.

JOSE COCERES: The virgin of Lujan.

JOSE COCERES: Yes and there are some calls that are still out.

JOSE COCERES: Yes. Don't know. It is one of those things where it is not as popular -- I am not as popular. I put in my little two cents here or there, but this is going to change quite a bit, I am sure. It has changed my life 100%, we will see what happens.

unplayable?

JOSE COCERES: Almost unplayable. I couldn't do anything else, so..... I would have lost either way. Doesn't matter if it was unplayable or not. I would have played it the same way. I couldn't go backwards. I could just hit the weeds and just make it go.

JOSE COCERES: Four feet.