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WACHOVIA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 6, 2005

Chris DiMarco

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

Q. Chris, low round of the day out there.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, I made about a 70-footer on No. 5 for eagle and then I chipped in from the front of the green on No. 6 and then birdied 7, so playing those holes 4-under par usually helps the score pretty good.

Q. They're calling it Swirl Hollow instead of Quail. That wind was a factor, wasn't it?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, we got a little lucky there the last five or six holes, it kind of calmed down a little bit, but it was tough out there. I played some really good golf on the back nine to shoot 1-under, no bogeys on the back. That was pretty solid golf.

Q. How close were you to not playing here?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I was really close. If it was Wednesday I wouldn't have played if it was one day earlier. It hurt out there today, too. Obviously looking up and seeing good shots makes the pain a little bit less, but I'm going to get it worked on again and hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow. It's still a little sore. It's probably sore from them working on it so hard, getting in there and massaging it so hard, and I think probably my muscles are a little sore, but obviously it didn't affect my play.

Q. When does it hurt the most?

CHRIS DiMARCO: It hurts the most when I try to turn my head that way to tell you the truth. That's about it. When I'm looking down, it's pretty good. I'm able to get through the ball. Obviously I hit a lot of quality shots out there today, so it really didn't affect me.

Q. With the neck and playing golf, how can you block that -- you know the pain is going to be there but yet you can block it out and still shoot well?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Obviously when the ball is going at the hole, it makes the pain go away, and it was going at the hole a lot today.

Q. How do you feel getting ready for the third round tomorrow? Obviously you're in a very good position.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Sure. Obviously I played a really good round today and I put myself back in position for this tournament. Obviously yesterday shooting 74 I was a little disappointed.

Again, I didn't get to play a practice round because of the neck on Wednesday. So for me to -- I had some three-putts early yesterday which I hadn't done in a while, and it was because I didn't get to see the course. I am looking forward to it. I think it's a great golf course; I think it's one of the best ones we play all year. The harder the better. So, I mean, I hope the wind blows and I hope the greens get hard and I hope the fairways get hard and I hope it gets hard and fast.

Q. Talk about the situation with the playoffs in the majors and whatnot. How can that work as a positive for you? Because a lot of people have a tendency to say, "oh, poor Chris, poor Chris," but I don't think you look at it that way.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Absolutely not. If you're in a playoff in a major, you've done a lot of good things that week to get yourself in a playoff. I've played a lot of good golf here the last couple of weeks and at the end of last year. I'm looking forward to this weekend. Again, you really can't do much until the back nine on Sunday. You just hope you're in position to have a chance.

Q. Did you have a practice round on Tuesday?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I didn't get in until Tuesday night. I was at home and I had some X-rays done at home and it was negative so I decided to play; hopefully it would be a little better. And Wednesday morning it wasn't better, so they worked on it pretty much all day Wednesday and it was able to get me ready for Thursday morning.

Q. What was the difference between Thursday and Friday as opposed to Wednesday?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yesterday actually felt a little looser than today. Maybe the coldness all day had something to do with it, but for the most part, today it hurt just a little bit more, but again, like I said, over the ball and in my swing it's not affecting it.

Q. A lot of guys talk about how hard it is to get the ball in the fairway here, firm and fast. Did you steal some --

CHRIS DiMARCO: I hit a lot of fairways today, I think I hit ten fairways today, so that's pretty good, and the ones I missed weren't by much. I'm not one of the longer hitters. I would think the guys that are really long here could have a tough time. There's a lot of corners you have to cut and to keep it in the fairway is pretty tough. If you put it in the fairway you can score for sure.

Q. Have you noticed a lot more attention since The Masters from fans?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Absolutely, and it's a good thing. I think that the fan support is one of the best things about it. People cheer me up and down every hole, and I get on the greens and they're cheering for me. It's great. It's nice having the people behind you, and it's a good feeling. It's nice to go out and play a good round in front of them, too.

Q. Where exactly on the neck is it?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I don't know, I'm not a doctor. It's right there on the back of the neck.

Q. Is it something simple as --

CHRIS DiMARCO: I probably slept on it wrong Sunday night.

Q. Is there any advantage to playing in the afternoon today when the winds died down a little bit?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I mean, it was tough out there. My first nine holes was as tough as it could have played. Like I said, I was able to make some really good up-and-downs. I made sure I missed the ball in the right spots today. If you miss the ball in the right spots it's pretty easy to get up-and-down. It's a course a lot like Augusta in a way that if you miss it on the wrong side of the holes you're going to have a really difficult time getting up-and-down, and I was able to miss it on the right side of the holes today, left it short on a lot of holes and made sure I had a lot of uphill putts, and if you do that and you don't leave yourself too many tough little putts coming back, you can make some putts and you can also score well.

Q. Did that eagle putt kind of get you going?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I only had five holes. It was nice, yeah; obviously to see it go in was great. I was 1-over par at the time for the tournament and it got me right in the red numbers and I was able to chip in on the next hole. Walking to the next hole 2-under par was a nice feeling.

End of FastScripts.

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