BUICK OPEN

August 11, 2001

Chris DiMarco

CHRIS DIMARCO: Yeah. Hit a lot of fairways, and the fairways are missing on the first cut -- I am driving the ball in between the trees which is what you have got to do out here. Got off to a good start birdieing 1, 2 and 4. When you do that you don't feel like you have to press as bad because there's so many birdie holes out here so if you can just get off to a good start, get a couple early, then you can kind of get into the flow. Was able to do that. I missed a couple that I didn't -- I had just short of the green on 7, short of the green on 14, didn't get either one of those up-and-down, missed about a 6-footer on 9 and hit a really good putt on 16 that didn't go in and hit a good putt on 18 that didn't go in. So they were out there for sure. I was fortunate to make a few put myself up to where I need to be.

CHRIS DIMARCO: Correct.

CHRIS DIMARCO: All three.

CHRIS DIMARCO: I am putting really good. Making just about all the important ones, the five to six-footers. And I am driving the ball really well. My iron-play is, I am not going to say I am 100% happy with it. If there's anything that's not right now it's my iron-play a little bit mainly 5-iron, 4-iron, 3-iron. Pretty good from 6-iron up, I am doing all right. Putting it in the fairway -- if you put the ball in the fairway out here with as hard as the fairways are, you are not hitting 4 and 5-irons into the greens; you are hitting 9s and wedges. I am putting the ball where you need to. I am not doing anything stupid; not trying to go for pins -- ten feet right is just as good as it's better than being in the bunker left. I am just playing smart and there are plenty of birdies out here so you get to some of these hard holes like 8, and even 16 which I -- 17 which I was lucky to birdie and 15, pars are good scores on those holes, and there's plenty of birdies out here for the taking.

CHRIS DIMARCO: Yeah, I guess, how could it not be. I have thought it about it a few times out there today. But the bottomline is, you know, if I take care of myself and just worry about me and not worry about what everybody else is doing and not worry about the golf course and just worry about myself and try to focus on me, then all that stuff is going to happen. If you start looking forward, it's hard enough Sunday after -- it's hard enough as it is in the lead on Sunday, so I don't need to put Ryder Cup on it either. I am sure that it will come into my mind few times but I am not harping on it. Obviously it's a major goal of mine but if it doesn't happy, it doesn't happen.

CHRIS DIMARCO: I made about a 7-footer on 15. I made a couple of 5-footers for 2-putts, that was about it really. Been pretty solid.

CHRIS DIMARCO: Nothing out of the trees, no. Nope.

CHRIS DIMARCO: Nope.

CHRIS DIMARCO: It's weird. I felt very disappointed last week. I felt like -- Tom played well enough to win the tournament. I felt once I got to 39 points tournament -- I should have won the tournament. I was playing great. I had only made two bogeys for the week up until the 8th hole when I made eagle, so I mean, I made three bogeys and two doubles coming in my last 10 holes. It was -- I don't think it was so much nerves as it was I just -- I got back out of my comfort zone. I started pressing a little bit. Never would have dreamed in a million years 34 points was going to win the tournament. I felt like I still needed to go for pins and still needed to make birdies. That's your mentality out there. I don't think anybody thought 34 points was going to win. I'd like a few holes back, but certainly was very disappointed, certainly kind of ticked me off a little bit makes me a little bit more hungry for sure. Maybe sometimes that's what you need something to light your fire a little bit, and you know, prove to everybody that you can go out and do it.

CHRIS DIMARCO: Only one I'd really like to have back is the second shot on 10. I should never have went for that green. I should have just hit it left, bogey doesn't hurt you in that situation. At that point I had 38 points, walk away with a bogey still have 37, still as it turns out would have had two, three-point lead. It's weird, you hear noise behind you and you hear noise ahead of you and you are just thinking those are birdies. They were pars, so I mean, two points goes a long way over there. Making double on 10 kind of made a great eagle on 8 to get 5 points just gave it right back with a bogey and double on 9 and 10.

CHRIS DIMARCO: 180 yards converted which was 198 yards. I tried to hit a 7-iron in out of the rough which wasn't the smartest shot. I'd like to have that one back, hit it left and get it on the green. The way I was putting I probably would have made par.

CHRIS DIMARCO: Out here or because my first year was the Hogan Tour back in 1991.

CHRIS DIMARCO: Travelling is different. When you are travelling 31, 32 weeks a year instead of 8 or 9 in college, it is a lot different being away from home. Right now for me this is the hardest part for me is my son starts school on Wednesday next week, my family is not travelling with me anymore. Golf is way secondary to my family so it is going to be really hard for me. It's a way for me -- I enjoy it. I am very happy I am playing golf for a living but my family comes first, and it is going to be tough.

CHRIS DIMARCO: Yeah, it's phenomenal out here.

CHRIS DIMARCO: I don't think it surprised me actually getting better and better every year. It is unbelievable. When I first played on Tour a million dollars was a big purse back in 1994. So we are playing for 3.1 this week and this is one of our smaller ones. It's phenomenal. I don't think, you know, I don't think -- I certainly don't look at the purse and say I am not playing that tournament because of the purse. It's nice finally that we are kind of getting up there with the other sports. I think deservedly so, we are still the only sport that pays our own way expense-wise, all that. All these other sports they get paid then they get their per diem on top of that; then they get flown whereever they are going. We pretty much pay our own way.

CHRIS DIMARCO: You are walking past the locker room you see Greg Norman and Davis Love and Tom Lehman you see guys that you watched on TV then they are right next to you, yeah, it's certainly an overwhelming experience for a rookie for sure, I would think. I know that my first year I was kind of star struck to say, you know, hardest thing was you play with your friends on Thursday Friday; then you get paired with a Mickelson or a Love or, you know, a Tiger or whatever. It's totally intimidating. You have to get past that. I think that the reason why I am playing so much better for me, and I totally attribute it to my win last year once I won I played with the winners. I got to play with these guys Thursday and Friday that when I play them on Sunday it's not a big deal because I have already played with them. I feel like I am getting up there and I am doing what I need to do. It's certainly-- that is the biggest thing about being out here is the comfort level for a young guy to really play well. I think once he feels comfortable out here is when you start rolling, seeing him play well.

CHRIS DIMARCO: Like I said out there I am going to try not to look at the scoreboard tomorrow. I am going to tell my caddie beforehand that if you know if we are coming down 16, 17, 18 and I need 3 birdies or something he can tell me or if I have got a 4-shot lead he can tell me. But if we are right up there I don't want to know anything. Obviously on 18 if I have got a three or four shot lead he can tell me, and if I am one back he can tell me. Other than that I am going to go out and I am just going to keep doing what I am doing. I am making a lot of birdies and I am going to try to limit the mistakes like I have done all week. Try and go four rounds without bogeys; make some birdies, it is going to be a fun day.

CHRIS DIMARCO: Obviously performing well in that situation did a whole bunch for my confidence. You play Saturday in the last group in the Masters with Tiger Woods, you know, our greatest venue, our greatest player, on Saturday the last group with everything on me and I performed real well. I shot 72. Bogeyed 17, missed a short one on 18 where I am tied for the lead going into Sunday, so was right up there the whole week. It was a huge learning experience for me. I played great. I birdied 16 and birdied 18 coming in on Sunday to get back in, so I have got a lot from that. It was a total confidence booster leaving there for sure.

CHRIS DIMARCO: I had finished 15th at the PGA last year. I finished 10th at the Masters, 16th at the Open and I finish 40th or something at the British, so I am putting myself in position at the majors, and the bottomline is that if you guys -- the media didn't hype up the majors so tremendously much, it would be another tournament for us. That's my mentality there. I don't want to diminish how big a major is because it is one of our biggest tournaments, but still, it's just 72 holes like we are playing this week and next week, whatever. So I mean, I think that my first few majors I got caught up in the thing like, oh, my God, it is a major and I put extra pressure on myself. I try to diminish it enough -- obviously I know the ramifications of how huge it is, but still, it's a 72-hole golf tournament. That's the bottom line. We do it every week, so I feel like I am getting more comfortable out there. I have only played 7, so I mean, I have played 190 out here and I have only played 7 majors, so it's definitely different. There's definitely a different atmosphere for the most part the courses are lot harder which I like, you don't have this 17, 18, 19-under stuff and you know, it's good because you got to hit the fairways. It's just a different -- it's almost different golf.