KEMPER INSURANCE OPEN

May 24, 2001

Chris DiMarco

CHRIS DiMARCO: Thank you.

CHRIS DiMARCO: It's drying out there, which is nice. It's still kind of wet. Got off to kind of a poor start. I 3-putted No. 2 for bogey. And I 3-putted No. 5 for bogey, was 2 over par through 5. And hit a good shot on 6, about 20 feet and made birdie, 2-putted for birdie. I had a good shot on 7, about four feet and made birdie there, driver, 6-iron. 8, I lipped out, a driver, 4-iron. 9, I hit a little 9-iron about 20 feet left and made that for birdie. 10, I 2-putted for par. 11, I hit a 9-iron about 15 feet, made that for birdie. 12, I missed about an 8-footer for birdie. 13, I hit driver, 2-iron just short of the green, chipped it up a foot and made birdie. The next one I hit a 3-wood about 60 yards from the hole, hit an L-wedge about 40 feet, and made a birdie there. Hit driver 8-iron the next hole, about 15 feet behind the hole and made birdie. Driver, 9-iron about 10 feet and made birdie on 16. Hit a good putt on 17, didn't go in, caught the right lip. And hit 2 good shots on 18 and left it a little short the last hole.

CHRIS DiMARCO: I was thinking five-day weekend, looking good (laughter.) Five days before I have to play again. But, no, in all actuality I was. But I knew I was playing good. I hadn't hit a bad shot, a couple of bad putts. The course was there, if you can hit it in the fairway, and that's what I do. I hit 14 fairways out of 14 today. You put the ball in there 14 times, you're going to hit some good shots, and I did.

CHRIS DiMARCO: That was fun. It was a lot bigger press room than this (laughter.) It was neat. It was so -- I guess I had never really saw the whole ramifications of how big it really was, and I was kind of playing in the moment. Looking back, people I'm talking to and see that they watched it that don't even watch golf, that part of it is pretty big. It's a golf tournament, just like any other golf tournament. We play these 35 times a year, so my goal is to win every one. And today you can just put yourself in the position to do that, and you're just trying to not shoot yourself out of the tournament. A lot of golf left, I can promise you that.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Sure, in the biggest spectacle there is, with the world watching, I proved that I can play under that type of pressure, so as far as that goes, it meant a lot for me. If you can perform there, you think you can perform anywhere.

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, that tournament, yeah, obviously every tournament that you don't win you go back and do that to. But I'm a lot more concerned about this week right now, to tell you the truth. I'm more concerned about the next three days and getting myself in position to win again.

CHRIS DiMARCO: With the fairways being as soft as they are, you don't have to hit -- I did drive it really well today. I didn't miss too many middle of the fairways, which was nice. You can get away with some drives that are off line because they're so soft and not rolling that much. But if you do that and you've got lift clean and place, the fairways are perfect, and the greens are receptive, so it's a matter of getting it on line.

CHRIS DiMARCO: No, I took a week off. I got to go home and relax. It was a pretty big mental strain that week for sure. But I teed it up on Thursday at Houston. That was over with and there was another tournament to go on.

CHRIS DiMARCO: It was another tournament, I wasn't tough at all. I finished 10th at the Masters. I felt good going into the next tournament, for sure.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Today?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Obviously, the last time wasn't the first time it happened. It's nice to look up there and see nobody above your name, for sure. I remember somebody last year asked me in Pennsylvania the day before I won on Saturday, saying, "Would you rather be in the position where you're at or be a couple of shots back?" I said, "I'd rather be a couple of shots ahead. Let people try to catch me." I hope I stay there the whole week.

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, I think ever since the last tournament in '99, I think I've elevated my game to a new level for sure. I finished 2nd there. And then I had two other seconds last year before I finally won. It's just experience. It's just getting there and knowing how you react under that kind of stuff. And sometimes you react really good, and you're going to have bad days and good days.

CHRIS DiMARCO: I was in Jackson.

CHRIS DiMARCO: I think I had 29 putts with two 3-putts. You take away the first five holes and it was a good putting round. I think I had nine 1-putts in the last 14 holes. It was pretty solid. The greens were tough, too, they were bouncy and they were spongy, so it was -- they just went in. Some days they go in. I just made sure I got them to the hole, if I was hitting there they went in, so I was making sure I got them there.

CHRIS DiMARCO: What about it?

CHRIS DiMARCO: It's just the way I putt. It's basically a long putter grip with a short putter. I use it to try to take my right hand out, I try to use my left side.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Skip Kendall showed it to me. I kind of looked at him like he was crazy when he first showed it to me, but I'm kind of glad he did it now.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, it's nothing major, I don't think. A few more people notice me here and there. I don't think it's anything overwhelming, for sure, which is nice to tell you the truth.