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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 7, 2005

Chris DiMarco

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

CLAUDE NIELSEN: Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome Chris DiMarco for a couple of brief remarks, finished today 4-under.

Chris?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, you know, it's so hard to play if you don't necessarily know if you're going to play. So when we finally started playing, you kind of have to get yourself back up for it. 10 was playing really, really tough and I made bogey there. But then I played very, very nicely the rest of the way around.

Made some good -- made a really good par putt on 11. Hit it on the green in two and then left it with about ten feet short and made that. Birdied 13; birdied 15; made a really good up-and-down on 17 from short right; made about a 4-footer and made short left of the bunker on 18; I chipped it up there for about a foot for a gimmee, so that was pretty nice to turn at 1-under was good.

Then I got a good break on No. 1, hit it right, hit a tree and came back in the fairway, and I hit a 7-iron 25 feet and made it for birdie.

2, I hit a driver, 3-wood and sand wedge and I had 90 yards and hit it four or five feet left of the hole. It was a really tough putt, really fast, and I made it.

Next hole I had a 2-iron and a wedge to about eight, ten feet behind the hole and made that.

4, I hit a 4-iron over the bunker, rolled back in, hit a good bunker shot I thought; rolled by about eight or ten feet and made a really good slider, probably at least a foot, foot and a half of break there.

5, they blew it in the fairway, so we decided we wanted to finish. I hit a 4-iron pin-high right of the green, hit the slope, made a 4-footer to end the day. I'm really glad that putt is in and I don't have to sit on it tonight.

Q. What effect did all of the rain have on this course out here?

CHRIS DiMARCO: What effect did the rain have? The first cuts are tough. The first cuts being a little bit wet, you just can't strike a real solid shot, it really takes a lot off our ball, so you really have to know and take one extra club and just trust it.

Q. How did the greens hold up with the rain? The greens looked like they retained their speed.

CHRIS DiMARCO: They have got some vacuums in these greens, don't they? They suck the water right out. The greens are perfect as they are every year. They are the best greens we play all year.

Q. What is it about you and the Masters, the first round?

CHRIS DiMARCO: This media room, I like this media room.

Last year it was three rounds. I was up there for three, not just one round.

You know what, again, I like the golf course. It sets up good for me. It appeals to my eye. I like the greens. I like the imagination you have to have around the greens. I think that really goes to my game. I really think I have the good imagination for this out here.

You're not necessarily putting the holes out here, you're putting the spots, and that's how your speed is and you just try to get it over your spot and with the right speed and sometimes they go in. Today they went in for me.

Q. Are you feeling comfortable because you were up there for three rounds last year?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I've felt comfortable every year I've been here, I really have. Whenever you have success it's always nice to come back, and I've had some good success here.

Again, this is the start of the race. This is a marathon. We've got a long way to go. This is just 14 holes in. I'm going to have to play 22 tomorrow, and who knows what can happen out here. I'm just going to keep trying to make birdies.

Q. If you were picking a hole to restart on, talk about 6.

CHRIS DiMARCO: 6 last year's first round was great; I made a 1. You know, it really doesn't matter where you start. No. 6, again, it's a really tough hole where the pin is. It's going to be a tough shot whether it's your 6th hole, 15th hole or whatever it is, it's going to be a tough shot. Just try to get on the top tier and just not necessarily looking at the pin, get it on the top tier and not short.

On 7 if I put it in the fairway, I have a short iron into the green and I have a par 5 coming in. Really with the last four holes, I'm pretty happy with those four holes.

Q. Will you overwork that in your warm up?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I'll warm up the same way I do. I don't know the what yardage is. I didn't go over and look at the yardage. I know it's somewhere between 185 and 200 yards. I'll probably hit a couple 6-irons out tomorrow just to get the feel for it.

But again, I don't think I hit a 6-iron all day today, so, you know, it really is not much difference.

Q. What was the difference in club selection today? How many more clubs did the course play because of the moisture?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, they had some really hard pins out there. I don't know if anybody else said that, but the pins on the back side were as tough as I've seen them ever, with 10 starting out right where it was, and 11, 2-iron in your hand, the pin is all the way in the back left over the water. 12 is almost harder than Sunday's pin because if you hit it long there you have no shot. 13 was five steps on the green. 14 was where it was Saturday last year. 15, I've never seen a pin on 15 there. That's about as hard and as fast as the green has ever been if you were right of the hole long. And 16 is the hardest pin on that back side, and 17 is back right and then 18 is all the way back. It was as tough as I've seen it. And No. 1 is right over there to the left. The pins were really tough today.

Q. So far your decision to leave last week looks pretty good.

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, when I left last week, my whole thought is that we were going to play 36 on Monday. We were going to try to play 72 holes. So I didn't want to, one, lose a whole day of practice here, which I would have; and two, I didn't want to tire myself out by playing 36 on Monday.

So, you know, as it turned out, I've been able to just kind of really take it easy this week, not put too much into it. I played 18 holes one day and nine the other three, and it was great; I got to play the back nine three times and the front nine twice. So I got a nice practice in. I was able to chip-and-putt a lot, get used to these greens and not have to go through the mush last week.

I love Atlanta, I love that golf course, I'll be back, it's a great tune-up for here, but 36 holes on Monday was not appealing.

Q. When you finally teed off this afternoon, did you have an idea of how many holes you thought you would get in today?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I never thought we would get in this many holes. I'm very happy I only have 22 tomorrow. Augusta has to be very happy with that, too. To get that many guys around the course, I think everybody got through at least 11 or 12 holes, I'm not sure, but that's good.

Q. How does one react to a run of bad luck like hitting a pin? I'm asking because Tiger hit a pin today and had the ball go in the bunker. He putted off on 13 into the creek --

CHRIS DiMARCO: He's got a few good breaks over his career, so, you know what, darn, you know, it's golf. I got a really bad break on 18. I was in a hole, I was in one of the only blemishes out here. I had no shot for my second shot, I was in a hole in the rough, so I had nothing. I had to try to chop out left short of the green. That's just the way it is.

Hitting the pin and going in the bunker, that's just really bad luck.

Q. Can a guy who is not putting well win here?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think -- I mean, the year Tiger won by 12, I don't think he had a 3-putt.

So I think that you have to -- the thing is, is you have to putt from five feet in really good because you're going to have them on almost every hole.

CLAUDE NIELSEN: Chris, thanks for coming in.

End of FastScripts.

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