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JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 12, 2006

Chris DiMarco

SILVIS, ILLINOIS

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thanks, Chris, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at the John Deere Classic. I know you had a difficult week last week, and you might want to start out and talk about that. Maybe this is an opportunity this week for a little healing by coming out and getting right back out.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Absolutely. Obviously it was devastating last week losing my mother. She was a special lady, obviously touched a lot of lives out here and at home. The outpour was amazing. It was solace for me to know that there was that many people that actually cared about her, and she was a special woman. She touched everyone's lives that she met. In that way it's a good thing.

For me I know she's never going to miss another shot I hit, and I know she would not be happy if I took this week off. She would want me to be here without a doubt. I know my dad said, "go play." That's who I'm really worried about; 46 years together is hard to all of a sudden be gone.

In that way, I know she's going to be watching every shot I hit. Obviously my mindset is perspective, without a doubt. I mean, I'm going to go out and try and give it my all and be there, but bad shots aren't really going to matter so much as they used to, at least for a while, and I'm still going to have my drive and give it my all. I know she wouldn't want me to play any other way.

As far as looking at a bad shot and thinking it's the end of the world, obviously it isn't. At the end, I know she's up there, she's always watching, and I thank everybody for all the blessings and prayers that they've sent because it's been overwhelming.

Q. What was it about her that touched so many people?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Optimism, just everything. She was so optimistic. If there was an argument at the table she got up and left, if there was gossip bad about somebody else, she got up and left. It wasn't what she was about. She was about helping people have a good time and laughing. She epitomized what we all should be like. She truly was a great woman.

Q. Tiger took a month off and came back and even says now that he didn't feel like he was ready. What makes you

CHRIS DiMARCO: Well, I actually got my goals are not much different than my mother's goals, and they were she wanted to see me play on the team for Ryder Cup and she wanted me to play and win tournaments. If I took more weeks off, I wouldn't play the British and probably wouldn't be able to qualify for the Ryder Cup. I've got to show Captain Lehman I'm still giving an effort. I know she will be right on top of my golf bag if I play for my country.

Tiger has the luxury of he's there. He doesn't have to worry about making the Ryder Cup. I obviously have some work to do, so I need to get to work.

Q. Can you describe the role your mother played in your junior development stages?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I know for a fact that without either of one of them I wouldn't be here today. They gave me the opportunity to play this game. They let me travel all over. My mom usually traveled with me. She was always there, always ready to go, telling me when to go hit balls and telling me to go practice. Not knowing where I was going to end up, certainly not knowing I was going to end up out here, just for the pure enjoyment of it; she loved it. They loved traveling with me.

I was really fortunate that they got to come to CVS with me. That wasn't planned but that just happened. They were up in New York for the Open and we traveled to the CVS, so they got to do that. It ended wrong, but I know for her she was very happy. She always said, "when I go, I want to go," so she got what she wanted.

Q. Did your mother play golf?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, not very good. Sorry mom, but not very good (laughter). She certainly didn't teach me anything I know.

Q. She enjoyed it, though?

CHRIS DiMARCO: She enjoyed the game. She enjoyed being out there and being with the women and talking. That's what it was, just kind of a social event for them when they played.

Q. What was it like today with the amateurs at the Pro Am? Was it a little awkward at first?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, I certainly kind of I haven't played in three weeks, and this course isn't the easiest course to walk. Just getting my legs under me again was hard. A couple of them came up to me and said sorry about it, which was nice. They knew what had happened.

I still did what I normally do. I tried to help them with their swings and just tried to have fun with them. We did. It was really long. I mean, it took us about six hours to play, but other than that, it was just a nice, relaxing day.

Q. You're known for your dogged determination. How much of that comes from your mom?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I think that my optimism comes from my mother. I think that the true competitive nature came from my dad's side, the Italian side of the family, without a doubt. Growing up with two older brothers, always getting beat by them until a certain age, and once I started winning, it felt good. I think the competitiveness comes from my brothers and my dad, and obviously my mom had to put up with us, so watching how she handled us was pretty amazing.

Q. What did she give you that you take out on the golf course?

CHRIS DiMARCO: It didn't matter where I was. If I needed six birdies to make the cut, she'd say, "just birdie the last six," very matter of factly. "Hey, you can do it, just go birdie the last six." No matter whether I played good or bad, she always came up and said she loved me after the round. I just take that she never put the game above us. She knew what was really important.

Q. What is it about you that makes you ready to the type of guy that goes right back to work?

CHRIS DiMARCO: It's going to be hard. I'm not saying I'm going to go out and be the person I was three weeks ago. I just know that the competitiveness in me will come out. I'm hitting it good. I'm playing good. I want to get back up and get that feeling of having a chance to win. I certainly would love to have a chance to win, and with her on my side, it would be great.

To get back into position, and obviously, like I said, Ryder Cup is huge and to show that I'm actually playing well, it's obviously a big part of what I'm doing right now until September.

Q. Zach made a reference yesterday to something that happened earlier in the year that you had to deal with.

CHRIS DiMARCO: I had an injury earlier in the year. I started out great, I won overseas in Abu Dhabi and I made four of the first five cuts with my worst finish being 20th. I missed the cut at LA by one. I was very excited about going to TPC, was going to take two weeks off getting ready for it and then I hurt myself.

I should have taken Atlanta off, should have taken Augusta off and probably a couple weeks after that. I tried to come back too early, worked myself into a bad funk and basically threw away eight or nine weeks there in the middle of the year by hurting myself.

Q. You've obviously had a few moments in your career, The Masters, the PGA, where things didn't quite go your way. Did your mom play a role in helping you get through those things?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Well, those things I can't control. Obviously Tiger is chipping in on 16 and my chip not going in on 18, obviously that's reversed and it's the other way around. I feel like I got a lot of my due last year at the Presidents Cup to be able to make that putt, and coming through and making it, that certainly was a moment for me. Obviously it was a team event, but for me to be able to do that was awesome. They got to share in that, without a doubt.

After this happened, I gave my dad the ring I think on Saturday Friday night after all the ceremonies and everything we did. We had some people back to our house and I gave my dad that ring and said, "Any time you feel lonely, think about the ring and think about the joy that that tournament brought to her."

Q. Do you look at the Ryder Cup kind of like scoreboard watching in the sense that you can look at a scoreboard and know what you need to do in terms of winning an event?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Not really. I'm not looking at it like that. I know that Tom had a talk with us all at the beginning of the year and said the points are going to be really, really messed up this year, which they are. J.J. Henry has had a great year and has played good, but he went from 26th to 6th, so one win does it to you. Tom said he's obviously not looking at that, he's looking at consistent play.

My play certainly hasn't been real consistent. It's getting better, but obviously he knew I was injured and he's called me a couple times since this has happened. I haven't talked to him, he's left some messages. He's over in Ireland.

But certainly it's a passion of mine, without a doubt. There's three or four guys that are outside the Top 10, Davis Love, Justin Leonard, Fred Couples, myself, that are all that type of guy. I'm going to have to play good.

Q. If you don't get enough points for the Ryder Cup, are you going to point to your performance with Phil Mickelson at the Presidents Cup to kind of talk to Mr. Lehman and see what he thinks about your

CHRIS DiMARCO: I think that Phil has talked to Tom, and I think Tom saw what we did last year, and I think that weighs heavily on my side. That's extremely huge without a doubt.

I know that Phil and I jell very good together. My game is back, just a matter of getting it in now. As far as hitting the ball, I really feel like I'm there again, it's just a matter of getting the job done now.

Q. Is your family here with you this week?

CHRIS DiMARCO: They are. My wife and my kids are. Next week I'm bringing my dad to the British Open with me.

Q. Did you guys go to the Big Dig last night?

CHRIS DiMARCO: We did. That's a great time here. Any time you can get 75 or 80 guys at a function, you know you're doing something right. They're doing something right now.

Q. Is your expectation for this week to maybe get yourself in form for next week?

CHRIS DiMARCO: No, because unfortunately next week we do once a year, and we don't ever play I don't ever play courses like that. This will be my seventh or eighth British Open, and that's about the seventh or eighth time I've ever played a course like that.

Luckily over here we play courses that are the same all year round so we're pretty much ready for them. Obviously this course playing as soft as it is does nothing to get me ready for next week, other than the fact that I can go out and get some confidence.

Q. People talk about that at the Open, like a Winged Foot, that you only play that course once a year. With the British, do you like that, the idea of only doing it once and being

CHRIS DiMARCO: No, I'd like to play more, but we don't have any over here like that. For the European Tour, also, they don't play too many courses like that, either. Their courses are a lot different than they were say 10, 12 years ago. They're playing more Americanized golf courses, too.

The British Open in itself is different than anything else we see. The U.S. Open is just getting to me just getting more ridiculous and ridiculous every year we play. It used to be if you made a birdie on 18 you could win, and now making a par wins or even a bogey.

Q. What is it about this event that made you decide to come back here?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I played here two years ago and really liked the course. I thought the course was very good. Obviously it's playing a lot different than it did last year. Last time it was hard and fast. Now it's really soft out there. It's just a good venue, and unfortunately it doesn't get its due here with the schedule, with the British Open, and then obviously with next year Chicago moving, it's going to even be tougher to get guys here.

I really think it's a good venue. You look on the wall and see the winners, Payne Stewart, Scott Hoch, David Toms, Vijay Singh; there's been a lot of great players that have played here.

Q. Is the softness of the course going to play more to the advantage to the bombers out here now?

CHRIS DiMARCO: It's going to yeah, obviously, because, one, for me there's a lot of holes that I could run it up to where they're going to have to lay up to. Now they're going to fly it up there, 6 and holes like that where they can get it all the way down there.

Also, what was really great about this course is if you did hit it off line it would roll into the rough. Now pretty much wherever it lands is where it's going to stay. It's hard to miss fairways. You've got to really hit it off line to miss a fairway.

Q. It's pretty hot weather. Do you think it'll firm up?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Hopefully the wind will blow and hopefully it will firm up. In its spots, sometimes holes you get roll, but I had mud on my ball a lot out there today. That's what's tough, hitting 4 iron into some of these greens with mud.

End of FastScripts.

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