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WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 25, 2005

Chris DiMarco

CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA

JAMES CRAMER: We have Chris DiMarco, a victor this afternoon, into the quarterfinals. Chris, congratulations on your play today.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Thank you.

JAMES CRAMER: Before we take questions, could you give us general comments about your round this afternoon?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, the greens are getting a little bit firmer I mean, not anywhere near firm, but they're getting a little bit firmer, at least not plugging. And they're definitely rolling smoother.

They rolled them this afternoon, and with 16 guys out there it wasn't nearly as bumpy. I foresee the greens being a lot faster tomorrow, probably. So I'm looking forward to it. The greens obviously rolled a lot better today. I think you saw some better scores out there today.

Q. You looked very steady throughout the round. If there were any mistakes, we didn't catch them.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Exactly. In match play it took me a while to learn, I didn't do too well my first couple of times on this tournament. Ryder Cups and Presidents Cup helped. You don't necessarily need to win 7 and 5 or 6 and 5. If you put the ball in play and put the ball on the green and make a few 16 , 15 footers here and there, you put a lot of pressure on your opponent.

I know this morning, I hit the ball great against John and I know that I had the honors a lot all day, and by me putting the ball in the fairway it puts a lot of pressure on you. This rough is very, very tough out there, and you're lucky to advance it, let alone anywhere around a green.

Q. What was it like playing Jay this afternoon, the Ryder Cup experience and all that?

CHRIS DiMARCO: It's hard. Tomorrow will be my fourth match against a really good friend. Especially Jay, who to me is my idol out here, to tell you the truth. The guy at 51 years old, and he's still doing what he's doing, it's unbelievable. There was three instances out there where I made three birdies from I made three 16 , 17 , 18 foot birdie putts and he made three 15 footers on top of me to halve the hole. So it's amazing to have that drive at 51 years old and keep up the level of play. I played very good to beat him.

Q. How long was that two putt at 17?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, he missed it left of the green, so obviously I aimed a little further right. I hit it 25 feet right of the pin. I was just trying to cozy it up there, and I ran by about two feet. Like he should have, he wanted to see if I could beat him. And he said, "I had to see you on the last hole." And I said, "I'm glad you did." It's hard playing against a friend, it really is.

Obviously it wasn't as much chitchat as there was during the Ryder Cup. Obviously when you're cheering for the other person as you are on the Ryder Cup it's a weird format; you're not necessarily cheering against the guy, but if they hit it in the rough, you're not upset about it.

Q. Did you gain respect for him through the Ryder Cup experience? You respected him before the Ryder Cup?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You want to know the time I really respected him and I felt like he was my idol? We were at the Nedbank Challenge at Sun City, not last year, two years ago, and he had all five of his kids there. And all five of them looked up to him like he was the greatest man in the world. Wow, that's pretty special. He's got five kids, it was amazing, that really was. And obviously his golf game is pretty good, too. But the family life he had on top of it is amazing. He's got a great wife and five wonderful kids.

Q. Is this what you could have expected this week or hoped for, obviously hoped for?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Coming in Monday, or the way I hit the ball the last nine holes at LA on Friday, my goodness, no. I'm almost glad we had time off and I was able to work on some things. It actually was Wednesday that I found a little swing thought that I had been doing. My hands were getting a little ahead of the ball in addressing it, and I moved them to a more neutral spot and it's straightened my ball flight out. It got me my fade back.

When I can go hard down the left side and know it's not going to go left, then I'm good. So that's what I've been doing this week; I've been teeing down the right side and aiming to the left, and it's been cutting to the middle. I'm making putts, and that's the game.

Q. Is that something you found on your own?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, I was working a little bit with my caddie just trying to figure out things and what's different. I asked him where my hands were. And he said maybe they're a little ahead of the ball. I exaggerated moving behind the ball and I hit a shot, oh, wow, that's a different feeling; I haven't had that quite a while. My ball flight really straightened out, especially my irons.

Q. Looks like day's end the top seven seeds are going to be gone. Do you look at that and go, wow, this really opens things up, or do you figure

CHRIS DiMARCO: Well, obviously the guys that beat the top seven seeds are playing pretty good. It's hard to win out here. And it's a new tournament every single day in this format. And if you're off just a little bit, just a little bit, you're going to get run over. And the last thing you want to do is give somebody a two or three hole lead on you and you feel like you're fighting it. If you feel like you have to make birdies on this golf course and you have to make birdies when you're a couple down, it's hard.

I know that's all I was trying to do with Jay was just put it in the middle of the green and make him have to make birdies. If he has to make birdies, he has to go for pins he doesn't want to go for, and that's where bogeys come up. You try to apply the pressure that way. You hope you're up early. That's the key; get 1 or 2 up early.

I've been fortunate this week, knock on wood. I haven't been down any matches yet. And that's been the opposite of what normally I go through.

Q. This is been a tournament so far that's not favored the long driver?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I think because of the wet conditions, I think the tees as far up as they are on No. 3, the tees on No. 4 have been way up. Those two holes, for me it's a driver and a 3 wood and a 75 yard shot into No. 2 or 3, and No. 4 is a driver and a 6 or a 5 iron or even a 4 iron if it's in the wind. And the tees are up 65 yards there.

And No. 9, I hit 3 wood in there last year, twice, I think, and you're making it a 5 iron for everybody. You're taking those are three holes that the long hitters have a huge advantage on. And really the rest of the course isn't that long. Those are the three holes that are probably the longest holes. 17 is

Q. 2, 4 and 9?

CHRIS DiMARCO: 3, 4 and 9, par 5, No. 3, and 4 and No. 9. No. 9 played as a par 3. One, you don't have to worry about hitting the fairway. And two, you're hitting an iron. Same I'm hitting the same as John Daly did. He's 45 yards past me off the tee, and that's a huge advantage for me.

Q. In the past this hasn't been the kindest event to you. I'm wondering, your Presidents Cup, Ryder Cup experience, the last year and change, how much that has sort of helped you?

CHRIS DiMARCO: It's really helped me. I know Presidents Cup, winning my singles match, beating Stuart Appleby there really helped. Last year I won my first two matches here last year and lost to Phil. And then winning the Ryder Cup last year, winning the singles match, helped tremendously going into this week, for sure.

Q. Does it teach you about how to approach it strategy wise, or is it how you've been through the pressure of those two events it makes this type of event easier to play?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You just have to play the golf course. Obviously if your opponent hits it in the water, you change maybe a little bit. But for the most part if you hit it in the fairway and put it on the greens, the pressure is on them to do the same. And if you can make a couple of birdies, I know Jay and I went on a stretch where I don't think we tied a hole we tied 4 and 9 with birdies. And 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11 we won with birdies. Actually we tied 11 with birdies. There were three holes we tied with birdies out there today.

So it's you just have to stay patient, for one. And obviously you don't fire at pins until you have to. And that's with a couple down, 3 or 4 to go.

Q. It's a given that anybody can beat anybody. Do you raise an eyebrow at the end of the morning when you see that Tiger lost and Vijay?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You look at Nick O'Hern and you look at Jay Haas, and those are the kind of guys that just hit it right down the middle, they hit it on the green, and they make a few putts and a lot of birdies. Those are the guys that pester you. A Vijay and Tiger, they start missing fairways, and they start giving Nick O'Hern and Jay Haas and guys like me, they give you confidence because you go, "I can play this guy, he's not hitting any fairways." I'm going to be down the fairway all day long putting the pressure on them.

I know Tiger was frustrated. He didn't make any putts. And that really eats at you. After a while you go, "What do I have to do?" Anytime you start thinking, that's when you're in trouble.

Q. You're a guy that plays with emotion, and there's so much emotion in match play. Do you feel like this format just kind of comes in your wheelhouse?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, for some reason at the Ryder Cup and The Presidents Cup, I don't know whether it's playing for your country, it just fuels the emotion. I'm not nearly as emotional out here this week as I was then. Obviously when you've got 50,000 fans rooting for you, it's nice. And it just fuels you. But you also here in this format, you want to respect your playing opponent; you don't want to go too crazy. If you make a good birdie putt or something, you give yourself a little fist pump but nothing crazy.

Q. A lot of the guys are having problems with the putting. How do you make peace with the greens?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Well, you know, I've been able I've made a lot of putts this week. I've missed I've probably missed more five to eight footers than I have 12 and 15 footers, if that makes sense. Maybe because when you're 12 to 15 feet, you're not really expecting to make it. When you have five to eight footers, you have to say, "I've got to make this putt." You're going to get some bad bounces, putts that waver off line. It's going to happen.

I think that I was listening to the telecast, I think it was Paul Azinger, that said, watching Tiger, they showed him missing all these putts in a row, and then he made one on 13. Most guys would leave that putt short. But he forgets what has happened in the past. And that's what I've tried to do. I've tried to forget what has happened in the past. If I missed some putts, it's done, let's go to the next hole.

You're going to get some bad bounces this week; you're not going to make every putt. As long as you can put in a couple here and there, hopefully that's all you need.

End of FastScripts.

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