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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 8, 2008

Chris DiMarco

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

Q. Just give us some general comments about the round on a windy afternoon.
CHRIS DiMARCO: It was just really hard out there. You just had to stay in the right position. It's the kind of course where you've got to let birdies come to you, without a doubt. If you try to make birdies on this golf course, that's when you can doubles and bogeys. You have to try to keep it below the hole. The few times that you do get it above the hole it can jump out and grab you like it did on No. 4 to me.
It's just one of these courses where it's what's in front of you, and you almost have to think about misses which you don't have to do other places. It's kind of like Augusta, where you do want to miss it if you do mis-hit it.

Q. Were you aware that it was a lot more windy this afternoon than this morning?
CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, just by looking at the scores. I looked earlier, and the scores were -- there was a lot of guys under par this morning. Hopefully that will repay us and we'll get a lot of holes in without much wind tomorrow like these guys didn't play in the wind. It's par for the course for me this year.
I'm just looking forward to tomorrow morning, hopefully going out and playing another good round. There's nothing better than playing golf on this golf course. The fans are great, and it's just awesome. It's one of the best we play all year.

Q. How much did last year help you kind of come in here with a little bit of confidence?
CHRIS DiMARCO: A lot of confidence. I mean, I really didn't play well coming into this tournament last year, either. It's funny, I've been working on my game and I found something that clicked last night. About 5:45 I was hitting balls, and I noticed my grip with my right hand had gotten strong, well, weak, so I opened it up a little bit thinking it would free me up a little bit and I was able to hit some good shots out there.

Q. How frustrating has this whole year been for you so far?
CHRIS DiMARCO: It started out frustrating because my expectations were so high, and then obviously with the injury and the surgery, you know, I expected a lot more. I'm past that now; I'm almost to the point where I'm past frustration, it's just a matter of patience now. As long as I keep believing in myself, things will turn around and it could happen this week, it could happen next week, it could happen in five weeks, whatever it could be, it could be in five years, who knows.
You take, for example, a guy like Sean O'Hair who was starting off not real good and wins Tampa and is No. 7 on the FedExCup Points list, up there in the World Rankings; he was like 90th going into Tampa. That's the kind of things that can happen on this TOUR.

Q. How healthy is the shoulder?
CHRIS DiMARCO: Shoulder is I would say probably 90 percent. It still hurts in some positions. I think with my golf swing it's 100 percent, but it's still a little sore.

Q. When does it hurt?
CHRIS DiMARCO: It hurts when I sleep mostly, and then when I wake up in the morning it just gets a little tight, so it's just a matter of stretching it out, icing it down and taking care of it.

Q. But it hasn't affected your golf swing per se?
CHRIS DiMARCO: Oh, it definitely affected my golf swing without a doubt. My golf swing from now to two years ago when I hurt myself skiing, physically my golf swing has changed.

Q. It has?
CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, and obviously to Band-Aid my ribs and to Band-Aid my shoulder, and for a long time I thought I could kind of Band-Aid it around, and finally I started getting some help, and hopefully it's going to pay off and get some consistency back.
Today was a good consistent round. I putted well today, which I haven't been doing much all year, either, so it was nice to go out and putt good.

Q. What was the effect of the swing changing? Where was the miss now where it wasn't before?
CHRIS DiMARCO: For me it's a pull draw, pull something left. Whenever I hit the ball left, and I don't know when it's coming, that's trouble for me. I've been fighting that all year, and all it takes is one or two here or there, and then you're trying to forgive it for the rest of the day.
You know, today was -- like I said, I was able to put some good, aggressive swings on it and hit some really good golf shots, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

Q. What happened on 15 on the drive, and how big was it to get that par?
CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, 15 the wind was down on the left, so I was just trying to hit something up the left, and I just turned it a hair. It really hasn't been happening with my driver, it's more my irons. My iron play has not been up to par. My driver has been pretty good this year. This is a tough course. You're going to miss fairways. I like the fact that the rough is low enough where you can play some shots from the rough. It's a good thing.

Q. Was there a certain time this year where you felt your swing start to click a little bit better?
CHRIS DiMARCO: No. Last night at 5:45 (laughing). You know, I'm seeing brief instances of brilliance without a doubt. I'm hitting a lot of really good shots, but I've just been kind of killing myself. I haven't played too many rounds where I look back and say that's not as good as I could have been. Every round has been, man, I could have been three or four shots better.
On top of not playing real good, I'm throwing some shots away. It's just getting back into it a little bit.
You know, I'm still five back. Anywhere near the top, we need to go out and play a good round tomorrow and hopefully contend for this thing would be nice.

Q. How many under par today would you say?
CHRIS DiMARCO: I don't know, I'm just glad to say I shot under par, on this golf course especially it's a good thing.

Q. When the wind kicks up people tend to focus on how well did you hit it, what did you do to adjust for the wind. How did you adjust putting-wise? Did the wind affect a lot of putts?
CHRIS DiMARCO: I really concentrated on my speed today, that was the main thing. I trusted my line, and once I got into it I went and stroked it. I really didn't over think too much. It was really all speed. These greens are pretty grainy, so when you get one downgrain, you know it's going to be fast; and when you get wind into the grain, you know it's going to be slow.

Q. Of course you have to putt well to make up for what the wind might do.
CHRIS DiMARCO: Absolutely. You have to play good from six feet and in.

Q. When you're struggling, how hard is it to keep your confidence? You've never lacked for confidence, but how hard is it?
CHRIS DiMARCO: Like I said, I got past that. It was hard early on, and now it's just a matter of patience. It's not going to come back in one week. I'm going to have to lay the groundwork one brick at a time. Rounds like this help, and hopefully we'll get another one tomorrow and hopefully do a lot like we did last year and maybe have a chance here on Sunday would be nice.

Q. When did you have your surgery?
CHRIS DiMARCO: September, middle of September.

Q. Football season?
CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, it was perfect. I got to go to every Gator game; it was great.

End of FastScripts

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