THE INTERNATIONAL

August 6, 2003

Chris DiMarco

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Nice finish at the Buick last week.

CHRIS DiMARCO: This is normally the time of the year that I play better. Obviously, any main goal of the year is normally to get in THE TOUR Championship and the Mercedes Championship; and Presidents Cup was very big up there this year, and to kind of solidify that with a good place finish last week is the goal done. Obviously, I would have liked to have won and gotten it out of the way and that would have been great but it looks like I'm looking pretty good for Top 32. I just need to win now.

Q. Talk about the playing on the Presidents Cup, what it would mean to you and what it means to be playing with Jack as the captain, how much it is in the players' minds as important to making that team?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Absolutely. It actually started at this tournament two years ago for me. I played great the front nine on Sunday and had a four- or five-point lead and had five or six points back to lose by ten points, so pretty much I gave the tournament away, and it kind of lit a fire under me, to tell you the truth.

I went on to play real well the next couple of weeks and give myself a chance to almost make the Ryder Cup, even if just by a little bit. Come that close and not making it, again, I went this would be pretty awesome to go ahead and do this. Went on to win a couple times after that. To play for Jack, obviously, but to play for your country, with what we are going through in the last couple of years is going to be, you know, I'm an emotional guy, so it's going to be -- my adrenaline is flowing.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Didn't you spend some time in South Africa already?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I did. I played the South African Tour in '92 and I actually went back over last year to play in the Nedbank Tournament, the Million Dollar Challenge. It's beautiful over there.

You know, for me, this big controversy or competitiveness against the teams, all of those guys on the team are friends of mine, on the other team. So it's going to be obviously intense because you're playing to win still, but I mean it's going to be nice to have somebody that you play with every week. Most of the guys that are on their team play our tour, so we see them every week.

Q. It seemed like a couple of years ago when it was first announced that it would be in South Africa there was talk that people maybe wouldn't go; that it was too far to go at the end of a long season, but you really don't hear that now.

CHRIS DiMARCO: I think that a lot of it was because of what was going on. I mean there was still a lot going on with 9/11 and traveling overseas, and who wanted to get on a plane for 12 hours with that much gas; that's what they were looking for. I don't think the site had anything to do with it; I just think how far away it was.

I think you'll see everybody play. I think for me again, it's just a great honor to hopefully be part of that team and I'm going to give it my heart.

Q. Have you officially retired the Gator bus?

CHRIS DiMARCO: The Gator van is gone. I traded it in for about three years ago, I think I traded it in. November of 2000. It was hard to see it go.

Q. You didn't just hang onto it for sentimental value?

CHRIS DiMARCO: That van was great to drive when you're winning football games. But when you were not winning football games, it was no fun. I was sad to see it go, but I got to drive that during '96,'97 '98 when we were finishing top two or three in the country. It was fun to drive then. But then we started losing to Georgia and Florida State and some other teams, and it's no fun to hear that because you get people just angry at you as they go by you.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CHRIS DiMARCO: I can't do it the normal rhythm.

Q. This has one of the strongest fields that this tournament has ever had. What does that add to the tournament; and it seems like could you almost have a warm-up prelude to Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Absolutely. I think everybody enjoys it here. This is one of their favorite stops on TOUR. You know we get taken care of so great here, the food, obviously. You go out and look over the 18th green while you're eating and you're seeing one of the best views of the year. The course is always in great shape and the field is always good. I don't even know when they have had a poor field here. What, have they got 20 of the Top-30 in the world here or something like that or pretty close.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: 10 out of the top 13, 17 out of the top 25.

CHRIS DiMARCO: That's a pretty good field. You're not going to get all of them all the time. I think it just shows how much players enjoy coming here.

Q. What has been the reaction to your comments after the Buick and the 17th green?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Nobody said a word to me about it. But I would love to do that. I think that would be pretty fun. I certain people, I would say 99.999 percent of the fans, are awesome. But that's that .0001 that are ridiculous.

I don't think -- we don't portray ourselves as a football field and we are not a football game. I think the way we conduct ourselves out there shows that. It's about a gentleman's game and yelling and screaming and doing the wave, I mean, you know, it's a golf tournament. You know, with the tournament on the line, you know, it can be disruptive.

Obviously, I won at Phoenix and that's another one. Some guy yelled at my putt stroke.

I think you should go out and have a good time. They paid their money, they can do whatever they want, but to a certain point.

Q. There's always talk about bringing people into the game, is that kind of behavior almost expected as part of that?

CHRIS DiMARCO: If you take out the 50 or 100 fans that were like that last week, what would the tournament miss? The tournament would still be great and still have great fan support. It's not that these people -- they are hammered. They are intoxicated, inebriated. So I've been that way at a football game, trust me, so I know what it's like. (Laughter.) But it's just a different -- it's a different atmosphere. Golf is golf. And, you know, like I said, they pay their money; they can do their thing, but it is a bit disruptive out there. That's what I want people to kind of realize that that is our office out there.

I would love to go sit in somebody's office. One of these guys that are yelling at me, what kind of sales call is that, what are you doing, drinking beer while I'm doing it? It would be fun.

The fan support is the biggest part of what we have, and I love, like I said, 99.9 percent of the fans and I get great support from all of the fans. And nobody said anything critical of me last week. It wasn't anything personal, at all. It just was a little bit overboard, just a teeny bit. Like I said, it's 10, 15 guys out of 100,0000. So it's such a small percentage.

Q. Wanted to just point out that you said you had been that way at football games, but you didn't drive the Gator van afterwards?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I always had a rule. I drove up; somebody else drove home.

Q. How difficult is it to play in this tournament and have to play at altitude and then go to a major like the PGA?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, it is difficult, but what I do here is me and my caddie, is I just take ten percent off. So I have 200 yards and I subtract 20 yards; I play it like 180 yards. We write it in my book and we do everything. If I'm over a shot thinking this is a 5-iron going 200, I'm thinking I have a 180-yard shot, what do I have to hit, with the wind or whatever.

It's not that big of a deal going back. Obviously that first 9-iron you hit from 140 yards that goes 135; geez, I was hitting it 160 last week, that's the only thing. It's pretty quick.

Obviously, we are going to get there, play a couple practice rounds beforehand. Because it is a major, I'm going to play two or three round beforehand, so I'm sure it will come right back.

Q. This year on the Tour it seems there are more players in contention for Player of the Year than have been in the past. Who gets your vote?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Right now, I would have give it to Mike Weir. He's got a major and he's got three victories. He's up there. Obviously, Tiger kind of gets slighted just because he's Tiger and everybody expects that from him. He's won four times. He's No. 1 on the Money List. Kenny Perry has had a great year. He's had a great run the last seven weeks. Jim Furyk has had a good year. Like you said, really, right now, it would be too hard to tell. You have to see what happens the rest of the year. Somebody could win three or times and kind of put themselves way out.

Q. A stat you may or may not be aware of, but you and Mike Weir are the only players on the PGA TOUR that are currently averaging under par on par 3s, par 4s and par 5s. Is consistency what you have always worked at and how you look at your game?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, that's a pretty good stat, actually. They only have par 3s, 4s, and 5s on the course, that's pretty good. (Laughter.)

Yeah, obviously that just shows that I've played really consistent. And I have. I've had eight Top 10's this year out of 19 events, so it's been a solid year. Only thing lacking is a win right now, and that's pretty high up on the priority list.

Q. This is also the professional debut for Ricky Barnes, and I was interested, someone who has had a number of years in the professional theater now, what advice would you have for him coming out now doing this as his first professional?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, it's a lot different now than it used to be. When I came out, you were scraping and scratching just to get an exemption. Now guys are picking their schedules. He's a great player. He's great for the Tour. He's got a great personality. He's very marketable. I would just tell him to stay grounded not get too comfortable. Keep his drive, go out, get your card and then enjoy it.

You know, he'll get exemptions as long as he keeps playing well. And right now is the time to take advantage of it, and he should go out and really focus and just take advantage. He's got a great opportunity presented in front of him right now, and he should go out and focus and try to take a huge advantage of it.

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