THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 22, 2006

Chris DiMarco

STEWART McDOUGALL: Ladies and gentlemen, Chris DiMarco, 69, 12 under par for the Championship and in second place.

Chris, things have come together an awful lot this afternoon. Is there a reason for that?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, I think the course is firming up, and I think you're seeing it a little tougher to get close to the pins. They certainly put some positions out there that were almost impossible to get to unless you were aggressive off the tee. Even the 11th hole, which is a short hole, the green ran straight away from you, and if you didn't have a perfect yardage it was tough to get within ten feet. I think the pin positions had a lot to do with it.

Q. Have you learned anything from these experiences that you'll be able to take to tomorrow?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Absolutely. I think that anytime you're in a position to win a major and that pressure that goes with it, it's always nice to draw from something. And I certainly have some good memories to draw from. I've played well to win a couple, and tomorrow, again, I know one thing is you've got to play your game. You can't watch what the person you're playing with is doing. You have to do what you're doing and what you've done all week.

For me that's a lot of irons. Drivers where I need them, but for the most part a lot of irons. There's a lot of drivers being hit out there and guys are like 7 and stuff like that, I just don't like that tee ball, so you have to stick by your game plan.

Q. Would it be nice to beat Tiger after Augusta?

CHRIS DiMARCO: It doesn't matter. It would be nice to beat everybody, yeah, because it means I win. There's no extra anything extra in there if I beat Tiger, it doesn't matter. Obviously you want to beat the best player in the world. But there's five or six other guys within a shot of him and right there that are going to be trying to do the same thing I'm doing. So it's going to be a fun day tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it.

Q. Just as a follow on to that question, it's become almost a myth, Tiger leads into the last round of a major, he wins. How do you get that out of your own mindset?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I don't think we have it. I think it's you guys that keep bringing it up. I don't think any of the players believe any of that. Stats don't lie; obviously he's a pretty good front runner, and usually he's got a five or six shot lead. Tomorrow he has a one shot lead. Anything can happen with a one shot lead. With 12 under being second right now, you would have thought he'd be 4 or 5 under right now and he's not. But the guy has a knack for winning, so it's going to be tough to beat him tomorrow.

Q. Do you allow yourself to daydream about winning a major and what it would mean to you, or is that something you have to stay away from?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You try, and as soon as you do you slap yourself in the face and say stop thinking about it until it's over. You don't want to get ahead of yourself. There's 18 really hard holes out here that you really have to be focused on. My goal tomorrow is to play one shot at a hole. First hole, first tee ball, whatever the wind is doing, hit my shot to get in the fairway, the second shot to get on the green and give myself a chance. I'm not going to think about the fourth hole on the first tee. I've got to think about the shot at hand.

Q. What have you found out about you and your personality and your makeup after what you've been through recently that allows you to focus and not get distracted this week?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Well, you know, I've been extremely lucky because I've had an overwhelming amount of support. When I say overwhelming, I don't even think there's a word. Whatever the word greater than overwhelming is is what I've had; it's been amazing. From distant friends, to the fraternity of friends I have out here, to all my friends at home, to all my parents' friends. It's been unbelievable. My family, it's just been unreal. It's helped tremendously. And obviously playing good is helping, it's therapeutic.

I know there's divine intervention. My mom's name is Norma, and I got on the first tee, and the scorer, her name is Norma. And I've probably met about five Normas in my life. It was weird. As soon as I introduced myself, I got goosebumps, I told my caddie, "She's right there with us, I know she is." I've got somebody up there that's going to be looking over me tomorrow.

Q. Can you talk about making that comeback on the back nine today when you knew you had to do it to get back in it?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I don't think I thought that. I felt still at 8 under, making the turn, not birdieing No. 10 I was like, okay, we need to get something going. And you know, me and my caddie talked about it, we said try to birdie 11, get back to even. If we can get one on 12, 13, 14, and I was fortunate enough to birdie 12 and 13 and then coming down I hit a good shot into 15; I didn't get over the hill, but if it gets over the hill I've got a kick in there, too. Fortunate to get back into the tournament, but hit a lot of great shots to do it.

Q. You often judge or I do judge a tournament or a course on who's on top of the leaderboard. And you have yourself and Ernie and Tiger, and I can't even

CHRIS DiMARCO: And Sergio.

Q. A fantastic leaderboard. Do you think that proves that this is a great golf course?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I don't think so because I think everybody that qualified for this tournament is a great golfer. I think everybody came here with a chance to win. It's pretty awesome, you don't see it much where you see all those names up there like that. It's pretty cool. I think you'll see a lot of people tuning in tomorrow because of that. I think it's great for the game of golf.

STEWART McDOUGALL: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.