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BALLANTINE'S CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 12, 2008Chris DiMarcoJEJU ISLAND, SOUTH KOREA MICHAEL GIBBONS: Chris, welcome to Korea and the Ballantine's Championship. You've come a long way to get here - how was the journey? CHRIS DiMARCO: It was long alright. We left Florida around 7:30pm on Sunday night eastern time in the US and got here 31 hours later. MICHAEL GIBBONS: You have your wife, Amy, here with you to caddie this week - she is something of a lucky charm for you in the past? CHRIS DiMARCO: She has. She caddied for me many years ago before we had kids and then she was on the bag for me in Abu Dhabi which I won in 2006 and then again in 2007 when we were fourth, so she is a very lucky charm and I think I will need that luck this week! Q. Your thoughts on the tournament here this week? CHRIS DiMARCO: Obviously it's great for the country to have a tournament here and it's going to be an honour playing with K.J. I know it's going to be absolutely special for him to be in his home country and for him to be here and I know the crowds are going to be phenomenal and I'm looking forward to that. He's a great guy, great ambassador for his country. And to be part of it and to be part of that threesome with him and Anthony Kim is going to be quite an honour. Q. Can you recall a sort of mild altercation or anything funny when your wife was on the bag? CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, just funny stuff, when I ask her maybe what do you think of 4- or 5-iron and she just kind of goes, hit it on the green, there's the pin, hit it right at it. Just the bluntness of her and you know, the matter of fact of it is, it makes you really think, well, yeah, there's the pin, hit it right at it, why am I thinking of all that other stuff. I think it helps me. I don't think I over think but I think I tend to maybe bring too much in instead of getting really focused on what's at hand. Q. After what you've had -- CHRIS DiMARCO: You can say it, I'm not playing well. (Laughter). Q. So is it more important for you not to think about it too much, to have someone being that blunt with you? CHRIS DiMARCO: Absolutely. I don't overthink on the course but there are times when I try and bring too many thoughts in at the same time. Q. What were the injuries you had? CHRIS DiMARCO: I had shoulder surgery early in September last year, and never thought that coming back would be this long. I expected once I started swinging to get right back into form. It's just taken further and longer and I think patience is the key, and also, you know, sticking to one thing, I really tried so many things to try to kick-start myself into some consistency and it just has not come. You know, hopefully, yeah, just going out and having fun this week and being able to walk down the fairways with my wife is going to be special. You know, hopefully just concentrate on that and not worry about everything else that's been going on. She used to caddie back in '93 and half of '94, and then she didn't caddie for almost 12 years probably, and it's probably twice since. Q. Are you fully recovered? CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, for the most part, I would say I'm within 90 to 100 per cent, and it's better than it was during December. By swinging with pain, I work myself into a few habits that I've been trying to get out of, and you know, obviously that with, you know, some -- I don't like to call bad breaks, but just like with some bad tee times and stuff within the states, a lot of the waves, late/early, has been the opposite, wind is blowing, doesn't blow and it has not been real easy. I certainly have not that h that easy round that I've been looking for to kind of get me over the hump. Golf is a roller coaster. I feel like I'm starting to get on that thing that takes you backup. It's just taking a little bit longer than I thought. Q. Is your wife's approach the same as it would be in the house? (Laughter) CHRIS DiMARCO: No, I have no say in the house. That is a well-oiled ship and if I come in and stir it up, it's not good for me. She's got everything under control there. You know, when I tend to go on the road and come back, if anything, I kind of disrupt that, so I try to not do that. I try to come in and be helpful if I can, for sure. But yeah, that just shows the strength of the good woman to tell you the truth, because she can run them both, be able to take care of everything at home and then have to put up with me every now and then is pretty special. Q. The last six months or so, just sort of dropping out of the World Rankings and missing out on the Match Play, is this one of the hardest periods of your career do you think? CHRIS DiMARCO: Without a doubt, I think when I hurt myself skiing, I came back it too early and I worked myself because of the pain in my ribs, I put a lot of pressure on my shoulder which in essence caused what I did. That being a Ryder Cup year, I felt like I needed to play to make the team, and last year taking off and not playing particularly well, I felt like I had to play good to kind of get my card and do what I had to do, and I did that, and then I shut it down after that. So even going into the surgery, I wasn't playing like I want to play. And then to have the surgery and then to have to take two or three months off of not swinging really did not help, and confidence is probably the biggest thing. You know, I think the fact that when you're not playing well, you tend to remember the bad shots more than the good shots. I've been hitting a lot of good shots but unfortunately all I'm remembering is the bad shots. I've got to get away from that, even when I'm playing at best, you don't hit great shots. You hit bad shots every now and then, but you get over them or you try to get up-and-down and make bogey and move on. That's what I need to get back to. Q. What mini-aspirations have you set for yourself the next few months to sort of drive yourself and get better? CHRIS DiMARCO: I just think try to play more consistent golf. Like I said, stick with one thing and go with it. You know, it might take a week, two weeks, whatever it might take. You know, searching and trying swing here and then two holes later trying another thing. It's kind of like somebody not putting well. Mark Calcavecchia said he'll use seven different putting grips in a round, and I'm doing that swing thoughts, and that's not my game. You're going to have to hit the bad shots with the good shots. And I think just confidence, getting my confidence back to where it was, I have to slowly build back to, for sure. Q. Are you expecting to recover quicker than the New York Stock Exchange? CHRIS DiMARCO: They had a good day yesterday, it was up 417 points! Yeah, I've got to think golf, you go back into careers of guys, I mean, Mike Weir went on a very long drought. Scott Verplank, at one point he missed 29 cuts in a row or something and stuff like that happens, and most of it is due to injury, without a doubt and it all how you handle it. I've been injury-free for the first 38 years of my life, and the last two years have been extremely injury-prone. When you're hurting and your body is aching, it's hard to go out and swing free. Then you hit some shots you're not normally used to hitting and all of a sudden you start questioning your ability, and I think that's the hardest thing. Q. Is it too soon to think about The Ryder Cup this year for you? CHRIS DiMARCO: The great thing about Paul Azinger is he has been extremely blunt with the fact that he really doesn't care how anybody is playing right now. He wants to know how you're playing a couple of weeks, two weeks, three weeks before The Ryder Cup. Obviously it's something that I want to do. I've been there. I love that. It's my passion. You know, I'm kind of gearing myself up hopefully here to get things back on the right roll and maybe, you know, start hitting the stride around June, July, August so I can at least start proving to him that I'm there and something that I want to do. Golf is such a fickle game. One good week and you're back on top of the world. Usually that's all it takes for most guys is just one good week with a good confidence build, and that's what I'm looking for. It has not been there, you know, for a year and a half. I played good at NEC (WGC Bridgestone Invitational - Firestone CC) last year and that was about it. For the most part I put myself in position last year to have a lot of good finishes but I just faltered down the stretch. It's just a matter of getting that confidence back. Q. Do you think your compatriots in the States share your passion for The Ryder Cup, the other golfers on tour? CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, without a doubt. I think it's a huge passion for the U.S. players to bring the Cup back. I think we are extremely focused and I think this team is going to perform a little better than the last couple of teams. Q. This is a European Tour event, and how is it different from the PGA Tour? And the Pinx Golf club, the even the Koreans feel this is not an easy course; is there any information on this course? CHRIS DiMARCO: I have not received any information on the golf course. From looking at it, we play golf every week, for the last, I can't even tell you, 25 years of my life. We play hard ones and we play tough ones and we play easy ones. I'm going to play it today for the first time, so I can probably answer that better afterwards. For the first part of your question, I really didn't understand it, but I think he was talking about K.J. and what it's like on tour there, is that what he's saying? Q. Although your colleagues on the US PGA Tour, K.J. coming into Korea, he is coming into a different environment than what you would be facing, what will be the difference for what you're facing than K.J. or the other Korean players? CHRIS DiMARCO: Obviously the pressure is more on them. In the States you have your hometown golf tournaments. For me, it's Bay Hill, which is this week, and Disney championship, and I know that the pressure, especially because you have so many people out there watching you and rooting so hard for you, you're actually trying a little harder than you should. K.J. has gotten past that and he is a world-class player and he's in the top five of the world. I don't think he's going to affect him too much. Anthony is still young, and I think coming back here is going to be good for him. He needs to come back and come back to his roots and see what it's all about. I think it's great for him. I think he's a great, great player and I think he'll be fine, too. You know, handling the hometown pressure is the toughest thing, but if you just come down and play your game, I think you'll see both those guys do real well on the weekend. Q. With K.J., it's his home country and there will be fans here, but here you won't, so will there be pressure? CHRIS DiMARCO: I feel like the pressure is off and the pressure is more on them. The great thing about going other places to play is that nobody really -- it's not like a football game for a basketball game and you have fans that are rooting against you. I think you have fans that are rooting a little harder for Anthony and K.J. because they are from here but for the most part they still want to see everybody do well. I don't think if I'm getting at the -- (indiscernible) -- end against one of these two guys, I don't think they are that's where golf separates itself from other sports and that's what makes golf such a great game, the integrity of it and the fans support and how the fans act out there. I think that's a good thing. I think you'll see it here. I think you'll just see that they know what they are doing and obviously they enjoy the game of golf and root for their hometown players but I think they are rooting for golf in general. Q. What are the happiest and saddest moments of your career? CHRIS DiMARCO: In my career? Probably at the Presidents Cup I would say, to kind of clinch it for the U.S. was very special. And then the saddest part of my career is probably the last five months to be quite honest with you. When your expectations are so high and you have not been performing at your best, it's a little bit different when you're kind of an unknown and you're kind of up-and-coming you can kind of go through these motions unnoticed. But when you're expected to play well and not doing it, I think that's the hardest thing. You get tested through life and I think I'm going through a test right now. I know the one thing I always do is overcome, so I will be fine here. It just might take a little longer than expected. In 2005 I made the final putt to win the Cup for the Americans, the 2005 Presidents Cup. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Chris, thank you very much. Good luck this week. End of FastScripts |
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