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FUNAI GOLF CLASSIC AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT

October 20, 2004

Chris DiMarco

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA

NELSON SILVERIO: Welcome, Chris DiMarco, to the media center. Thanks for spending a couple minutes with us. You're having a great year so far, nine Top 10s, three in the majors, close to $3 million in earnings. I know you probably want to cap it off with a win, and what better place than close to home.

CHRIS DiMARCO: This is probably, other than a major, the most coveted trophy that I want. I got close here two years ago, finished 2nd. Bob Burns beat me the last round, last shot. It's obviously near and dear, been coming here since 1979. My dad started playing in the Classic, so I've been here for 25 years now.

Q. How do you go eenie-meenie-miney-mo throughout the brothers and fathers who serve as your pack mules?

CHRIS DiMARCO: They each get one a year. It used to be two, but my normal caddie was losing too much money. They're down to one a year. I like having one of my brothers on my bag here at this tournament. It's different when you look out in the gallery and you know everybody. It's nice to have somebody out there with you that knows everybody, also.

I've done pretty good with my brothers. I finished 2nd here with one of my brothers. My other brother is caddying for me this week, Mitch, and we won at Callaway Gardens. I've had a lot of success with my brother-in-law, numerous Top 10s with him.

I found out a long time ago that it really isn't the caddie. It's nice to have somebody out there -- I don't really rely on a caddie too much as far as reading putts. My caddie is very good at helping me club myself, and that's about the extent of it.

Q. (Inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: I don't know if it would be a breakthrough year. This will be my fifth year in a row in the Top 20. I haven't won yet. That's one of the main goals still. I have two or three tournaments left to try and get that done. My goals never change. They're the same every year, try to get to the Tour Championship, try to get to Mercedes Championship, and whatever team we have that year, whether it's Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup, that's my goal every year. I was able to achieve two of them. Obviously I haven't won yet, and with two tournaments left -- I've come close a few times, had some chances.

Q. (Inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, I think individually -- same thing I brought out during Presidents Cup. I just felt like being in the spotlight and in that big a spectacle, I can handle it. I can handle the pressure; I can handle that situation. If you can do that, I mean, there's really not a bigger platform we're going to be on where globally everybody is watching. If you can perform in that type of spectrum, you can pretty much perform anywhere else.

Q. (Inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, yes and no. You can't play every week. If you play every week, you're just going to burn yourself out. You know, I know that a couple guys might take this week off and go to Tampa. If it was close I probably would play the last two. Who knows, they may have played the last six previous and they may need a week off. There's no use going into a tournament if you're mentally and physically spent. No matter how you play it, you want to be mentally and physically able to compete.

I'm still going to make a decision on Friday. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet.

Q. (Inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: Well, yeah, that obviously doesn't matter much anymore. That makes a big difference. If we would have beat LSU and we would have beat Tennessee I would not be playing Tampa, but since they both lost, again, my goals are to win, so we'll see what happens the first two days this week, and I'll -- again, it's Halloween weekend for the kids; I have three small children and I'd like to be home for Halloween. I haven't been home for Halloween in about eight years, so I'd like to do that.

I'm okay for the Top 30 on the Money List, and family comes first and then I weigh other things.

Q. (Inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: I made a few stops this morning. You know, you do what you have to do. Everybody wants to come out and watch. It's pretty nice to actually be out there, and, like I said earlier, look at the gallery and know everybody. It's a pretty cool thing. Everybody is out there cheering for you and having a good time. It is a pretty fun deal. I like the courses, which helps, and yeah, I'm going on 30 years here in Orlando, so it is nice to have the hometown support for sure.

Q. (Inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: Eastlake is a great golf course. Obviously Champions is a great golf course, too. I don't know, I mean, I still think we could have went back and forth, back and forth, to two or three different golf courses, but Eastlake certainly is a great venue and deserves us playing there for years and years for sure. It's certainly a great test of golf.

Q. (Inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: Not that quite long ago. 91, so 12 years.

Q. (Inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, we had this conversation the other day. I was talking with Steve about this. Finally we're starting to catch up with the other sports, but still the only difference we have between the other sports is we pay our own expenses and all the other sports get per diems, and their hotels are paid for, flights are paid for. We still have expenses.

Vijay, if you go on an hourly wage, how much he works, what did we figure out, about a quarter an hour? There is nobody out there working harder than him, and he's got a $4 million lead on 2nd place. One guy out here making $10 million, I think A-Rod is making $25 million this year, and we're paying our own way. It's nice to see 125th place making $550,000, making a living and surviving, and if they lose their card, at least they're not financially strapped for years and don't know what they're going to do.

We've finally caught up. Golf is a hot commodity right now. Just about every other sport plays it in the off season and just about everybody else plays it. It's really becoming a big sport, and you're seeing it. I'm proud to be part of it.

Q. (Inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: I'm quite happy with where we're at to tell you the truth. I think that you start getting -- I mean, obviously -- sure, let's get it bigger, but if you start getting bigger, that's when greed starts coming into the whole thing. You don't hear too many of us talking about lockouts. That's not going to happen.

We're happy with the way -- Tim Finchem has done a phenomenal job. Tiger Woods is a big part of that. When you have probably the most noticeable and the greatest athlete in the world playing your sport, your purses are going to go up. Now that we're being challenged by Vijay and Ernie, you guys have what you want. Is anybody going to challenge Tiger? Now he's No. 3. We've got challengers. Right now golf is where it needs to be.

Q. (Inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: I'm not happy with 12 losses in the last 26 games, I can promise you that. As a booster, I pay my money, we need to start winning more.

Q. (Inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: I mean, that's just -- I think that was blown out of proportion. I think he was there to stop it and he got emotional and he's an emotional guy. It's not like he hit anybody. When is the last time you weren't allowed to tell somebody that "I'm going to get you"? It's a free country and you can say things like that, I think.

Q. (Inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: Absolutely. I came along at the right time. Right when Tiger Woods was coming was right when I started coming myself, and yeah, you know, it is. The perks have certainly gone up in the last two or three years, and I think that is because they're trying to get more Vijays and Ernies and Tigers to play their tournaments. 84 Lumber this year flew everybody over to Ireland. Even though it wasn't the best success, but still, what a great perk.

The bottom line is, yeah, we are absolutely spoiled out here, there's no doubt about it, but I feel like we put a pretty good show on, too.

Q. (Inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: The last two, 8 and 5. We need double digit wins. When we're used to it ten years in a row, you get a little spoiled. Who knows, he may be back coaching here in a couple years at Florida. I'd like to see Spurrier back there personally. Who wouldn't? If you're a Florida Gator fan, why wouldn't you want to have the most successful coach at Florida be your coach?

Q. (Inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: It started right there. There's my brother right there, started 1979 when he went there. That's when I started becoming a Gator fan.

Q. (Inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: Just like when he left, he's pretty quiet about what he does. I'm certainly going to tell my opinion, that we need him back. I don't think it's going to matter much, but certainly, we'd love to have him back. He's one of the greatest college coaches of all time.

Q. (Inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, I have no idea how to coach football, so I wouldn't -- I would certainly have managed the clock against Tennessee like we didn't do. The play clock should be running there in that last penalty.

Other than that, he's a great recruiter; he really works hard. He doesn't deserve the grief he gets. He wasn't left much, and this is his team, these are his kids. He needs to start producing with his kids. You can easily go back and look, and when you're spoiled having Spurrier, we'd be 6 and 0 right now if Spurrier was there, there's no doubt. He wouldn't have lost those two games. When you're used to beating teams and now you're hanging on by a thread, it gets a little tiring.

Q. (Inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: No, a green jacket is a little bit above that, way above it (laughter). A PGA jacket would be nice, U.S. Open jacket would be nice.

NELSON SILVERIO: Thank you, Chris. Good luck this week.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Thanks, guys.

End of FastScripts.

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