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FUNAI GOLF CLASSIC AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT

October 19, 2005

Chris DiMarco

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA

TODD BUDNICK: We thank Chris DiMarco for stopping in for the 2005 Funai Classic at Walt Disney World Resort.

Chris, 7th on the Money List this year, having a tremendous season, looks like first time in your career you'll finish inside the Top 10 on the Money List, you have to be proud of that this year.

CHRIS DiMARCO: I am. I've had a lot of good finishes, sixth year in the top 20, so I've been very consistent in the last five year, finishing 18th to 11. It will be nice to finish in the Top 10 this year. Obviously it's what we work for. Still got one goal left, I want to win. I haven't done that this year, so that's the goal, try to get back to Kapalua.

TODD BUDNICK: The Presidents Cup a couple of weeks ago, obviously a big moment in your career, talk about now that it's had time to sink in, how big of a putt that was.

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, it was, the enormity of the situation has hit me a few times, and while you're there and you're playing, you tend to get into the groove of the actual golf, and you're not really thinking about it until afterwards and you can reflect on it.

It was just awesome. I mean, if they wrote a script and I was starring in it, it looked like they wrote it for me. So it was, everything that could possibly, for me, turn out the way it did, turned out the way it did. To have a chance in the last group, to have it come down to the last putt, it was like a movie. It was leak a dream, it certainly was.

And, you know, it was a full team effort the whole week, there's no doubt about that. We played together, I think that you saw a lot of passion in the Americans as a whole and I think that's why we did what we did. That's why we got the Cup back because we played as a team. We've been scrutinized for maybe not doing it in times past, and I think you saw a lot of us gelling as teammates and friends, and there was just a lot more camaraderie on that team than my previous two teams. We had a lot of fun the last two times, but you could see a lot of genuine camaraderie. It was a great team to be on. It was nice to get the Cup back for sure. Like I said last year after the Ryder Cup, when you win, it's fun and when you lose, it sucks, and last year sucked and this year was a lot more fun.

TODD BUDNICK: You're in your hometown this week, a lot of guys like it because they get to sleep in their own beds, other guys say it's tough and can be distracting. Give us your views.

CHRIS DiMARCO: It's great. Actually on Monday I came out and played the Mag, nobody was here, except had to drive around with Steve in the cart; other than that, it was okay yeah, I did, because all of the holes were 40 or 50 yards longer.

It was great, didn't have to worry about running into everybody. I just went through and played the whole thing. Yesterday, I went home and just hit some balls and stayed at home, stayed at Heathrow and picked the kids up from school, took them to school, did the thing. And then this morning I'm going to go out to play probably on the Palm and we're going to stay up starting tonight through Saturday and go back Sunday.

Q. How far away do you live by car? How long does it take to you drive?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Probably 45 minutes to an hour depending on traffic, just up in Heathrow.

Q. Inaudible?

CHRIS DiMARCO: We're going to do that. I think we're going to try to do it right around 3:30. My wife is picking the kids up at school at 2:00 and however long it takes to get here.

Q. Can we get your thoughts on what's shaping up on the schedule and the thought that the PGA TOUR could be copying NASCAR for its finish?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I'd hate to comment on that because I do not know everything that's going on. I've just heard some things here and some things there, nothing concrete, so I really don't have a comment on that.

Q. Like what?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Same thing you just said, some type of race at the end where there's three or four tournaments and some are bigger than others. I don't have the statistics of it totally. I know they are trying to move the TPC to May, that's about the only one I know of. I haven't I wasn't at Vegas and I wasn't at the meeting yesterday because I was at home.

Q. Would you tell us if you knew?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I would. You know me. When have I ever steered away from telling things the way it is. (Laughter).

I love NASCAR, I think NASCAR is great. In fact I have a Pro Am on Monday that Jimmy Spencer and Mike Waltrip are coming. So I think it's a great sport.

Q. Inaudible?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I think any time that you can win in a town you grew up in, that makes it that much more special. I put extra pressure on myself because of that. So better me just going out and having fun just playing golf knowing that the only difference is that when I look in the gallery here, I know everybody. And when I go everywhere else, I don't know anybody, so it's a little bit more distracting in a good way. Obviously to have that much support and that many people actually pulling for me that I know, is great.

And I want to do well for them and it is a lot of fun. I've been successful and I've had some great round out here. When you start getting 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 under par out here and you get the people behind you, it is exciting, it is really cool.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CHRIS DiMARCO: Well, when you're playing well, yes. You know, when you can get past the hump and get on to the right thing, get 3 , 4 , 5 under par and get in the right going the right direction, it's good. When it's going to the wrong direction, it's good, it's no fun.

At Bay Hill, I tend to go in the wrong direction there, so Bay Hill is not fun for me, where this tends to be fun. You've got Disney here, the kids go do their things. It's just a great relaxing week. Now that they have added 500 yards to it, it's not as relaxing as it used to be. In fact, I might switch to the X ball for the Mag.

Q. I want to go back progressively Sunday at the Presidents Cup. First in San Francisco, did you have any occasion to speak with Lee Westwood or Monty?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I did.

Q. Can you talk about that?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, it was funny, I think it was a week afterwards I got a call from somebody at the Golf Channel just saying, hey, there was some comments made. And what I I guess when I meant to say and what was perceived were two different things. I meant to say that the media and the fans want their to be hatred in the Ryder Cup.

Q. But you did say that in the press conference?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah.

Q. To us, you said that.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, and it was misconstrued that I made it sound like we hate them which is totally wrong.

I have the utmost respect for everybody on that team. Lee Westwood is one of their stars in the last seven, eight, nine Ryder Cups and he's been phenomenal. Just the fact that there was a comment on them, and I didn't even know there was something going on. So I sat down with all of those, every one of the Ryder Cup members I saw last week, I sat down and with and just said, I'm sorry it was misconstrued that way, and they said it was no big deal. So it was put to rest last week.

Q. Did you say something different to SKY than you did in the press room?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I don't think I did. Like I said, they want to make it to where it seems hateful, and there is no hatred. I just think that people like the competitive nature of that, and they think that hatred is part of that and that's not where it is.

There's always respect for the players and between the players. We always respect their golf games and we always want to get beat with our golf clubs and you want to win with your golf clubs. So I don't even read papers during the Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup, unless it's other sports. I don't read anything about golf.

Q. You're not missing anything.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Right.

Q. Did you seek them out or did they come to you?

CHRIS DiMARCO: It was kind of I ran into both of them at the same time, so I made sure I just wanted to let them know that what was said or what they heard was not what I actually said. It was put to rest and they were fine.

Q. Do you think there will be a little bit of a target on you at The K Club?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I don't think so. I mean, I don't think

Q. Not with the players, I'm talking about galleries

CHRIS DiMARCO: If anything, I was certainly not pinpointing their fans. Our fans are just as brutal. I don't think Colin Montgomerie has ever walked around here on a golf course in a Ryder Cup without a few things being said to him. It was the same.

It was funny I think at the Presidents Cup, at one point somebody went to Angel Cabrera, who was chipping as it was going past the hole somebody was going, "Go, go, go," and Michael was like, you know Michael was like, what's that all about. So we went over and said something to the fan. And the next tee, Phil goes, "That will be the best thing you hear at the Ryder Cup," and that's about right, that's the way it is. It's just a different mentality there.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the schedule, a shorter TOUR schedule, where do you fall on the opinion of that that's good or bad or good for a certain segment?

CHRIS DiMARCO: That means October through November, I've got like eight more Gator games. I'm okay with it.

Q. What about, per se, some of these guys say, "A shorter TOUR schedule hurts my ability to make a living?"

CHRIS DiMARCO: I don't think it's so much that. The only thing I feel bad for this tournament or another tournament that might not get in those top tier tournaments or after that, and then you know you're getting second I don't want to say secondhand guys, but you're not getting the top players playing them. And I don't think that's fair to the tournaments that have been around forever. Disney has been here for a long, long time.

Again, I'm speculating when I say anything. I don't know anything about the schedule, what tournaments are going to be there, what tournaments aren't going to be there, I do not know.

Q. Can we do one hypothetical real quick?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Hypothetically. (Laughing.)

Q. If you had a great year, and got into this NASCAR race, so to speak?

CHRIS DiMARCO: NASCAR. (Laughing).

Q. Would you see yourself shutting it down after THE TOUR Championship, or do you see yourself playing more tournaments if it's Greensboro, if it's Disney, if it's Tampa, if it's whatever.

CHRIS DiMARCO: I don't think I don't think that it's going to change my schedule that much. I think I'm always going to play Disney. The only thing it might do is it might take, if THE TOUR Championship is indeed at the end of September, that would be the only difference I change. Disney would be my last instead of THE TOUR Championship.

Q. Are you inclined to play a lot after THE TOUR Championship now?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Not really. I didn't play I'm just going to go to South Africa and I'm going to go Tiger's and that's it.

Q. The Million Dollar?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, that's a great family trip. That's a lot of fun.

Q. How long do you spend down there?

CHRIS DiMARCO: We leave the Friday before, we go on a safari for a couple of days and then play golf, then we'll come back home.

Q. And Tiger's tournament is right after?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Week after. Then I come home for a day and fly right back out to L.A.

Q. Can you see guys in your part of the food chain, if you will, playing overseas, playing China, playing Asia, playing whatever?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, I've been offered that myself a lot, and it's just hard for me after a long year of travel to go travel and be away from the family that much longer. Especially since you go to a place like China and a lot of times they want you to come for two weeks so you're looking at being 17, 18, 19 days away, and I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to be selfish to do that. I'm going to stay home. My wife does it for eight months a year; the least I can do is help her a couple of months.

Q. Do you see any value of the tour trying to co sanction or jump in on some of the Asian events that might be played late November/early December? Can you see any value in that?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Other than the fact that maybe there might be some more worldwide notoriety, that's about it.

As far as, I don't think you're going to get, personally, you know, 30 of the Top 50 in the world to go to China in November. You're going to get a lot of players. You'll probably a lot of American players, but I don't think you get that. But that's speculation, I don't really know, hypothetically speaking.

Q. Do your Florida football frustrations continue?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Well, there's always that question, isn't there? Not really. If anybody would have thought that the Gators where are going to be 13 0 this year, they were sorely, sorely on something other than caffeine.

You know what, Urban Meyer is going to do great for us and he's fine. He doesn't have any of his personnel in there, all of the players in there not saying there's anything wrong with the players, but he recruits for his offense and he doesn't have anything for his offensive skill positions with his players yet.

Q. Inaudible?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I didn't see any of it. I've heard it. I can tell you that when you're that emotional and you're in that much of a high thing, you don't know what happens.

There's been plenty of times, I remember walking up when I won my first tournament at MCI walking up the fairway barely being able to see the ball, my eyes were bawling. So, I mean, that's a happy point.

So you can tell that this guy is extremely competitive and I just think that the one time he let down and let his emotions out it was unfortunately right here in front of a whole bunch of people.

Q. The Q School finals are here this year again, do you know off the top of your head how many times you went to Q School?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Three times.

Q. And do you have any Q School horror stories?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I never made it through Q School, so I try to avoid it every way I can. Every time I got my card, I made it through the Nationwide Tour. Nike Tour one year, Nationwide Tour one mere.

It is no fun. I do like the fact that when I played, they used to cut after the finals, after 72 holes. Now, they don't cut. Now you can play all 72. Because there was times where, you know, you could shoot two good rounds in the last two and get your card. Potentially now they have done away that and now everybody gets to play six rounds, so I like that.

Q. Do you subscribe to the theory that that's as rough and tough as people make it out to be as having the Nationwide fall back a little bit less?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I think the thing that's tough, and I think the thing that's even harder is the fact that it's televised. I mean, I don't think it should be televised. I don't think when people go in for interviews wherever they are going, televised, showing how they are exacting. They are basically interviewing for a job next year and they have cameras showing them interviewing.

And you always hear one or two guys that mess up down the stretch, and now it is caught on tape and it is no fun. It can harm you for a long time mentally. You're under enough pressure out there, and now you know there's a million other people watching while you're trying to throw up on yourself getting in. Seriously, it's more pressure than playing out here, without a doubt. It's your livelihood, it's your job, it's for means to put food on the table for your family.

Q. Inaudible?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, but it's better when you're playing for money than your job. I just think that the Nationwide Tour is great, though, the fact that it gives you that. That's what the Nationwide Tour is for, it gives that you same kind of thing. But, I'm telling you, there's no pressure like Tour School. Ask anybody that's begun to Tour School on that range out there, they will tell you there's no pressure like Tour School. First practice round, you're tense from the time you putt that final putt in.

Q. Talking about pressure, the putt you made at the Presidents Cup, could you have envisioned making that putt pre Claw?

CHRIS DiMARCO: No way. I don't think I could have got it with an HP pre claw.

Q. Since you switched to that, and you've obviously had to work on it, how much do you work on your putting, now are you at the point where

CHRIS DiMARCO: No, there's always work. The biggest difference for me now isn't necessarily the stroke; it's fundamentals. I just find myself now getting maybe too far over a ball with my eyes or maybe too to the ball or my ball position is not right. I never had to worry about that before pre Claw. I never had to worry about that, just whether or not I can take the putter back.

Now I monitor that, I go back to film when I'm putting real good and look at film to see where I'm at and I've never had to do that before. Been doing it for ten years so I don't think that the Claw for me is a Band Aid. That's the only thing I've done for ten years. I've never tried anything else. I've never tried putting my grip here or here. It's all been right here, so just the way I putt.

Q. Any drills or anything?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I do, I have one of those Medicus putters, those real heavy ones, Medicus, the yellow shafted putter. I have two of those strapped together, so they are really double weighted and I putt with that to get strength in my left hand.

Actually it doesn't even necessarily need to hit a ball, just for muscle repetition.

Q. Is that the closest you come to lifting weights?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Believe it or not I've been four weeks now with Vijay's trainer.

Q. Joey?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah. Joey D. Trying to get stronger in the core. I'm not changing any of my nutritional habits.

Q. What does it say about Q School that you cannot get through? Mike Weir battled and battled and you guys have been Top 10 players here for the last couple three years, does that mean it's a fair test?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I don't think personally it is the fairest test. I think the Nationwide Tour is a fair test because it's a year long deal. I know that one of the Tour schools I went to, I got sick the week before and I was weak and I wasn't myself. And that's the thing, you put everything on this one week, God forbid you're cutting a carrot and you slice your finger. You always hear about this once a year, somebody burned themselves with an iron, somebody did something where they are not 100%, and it all focuses on that one week and it's hard to do that.

I like the fact that we keep adding more players on the Nationwide Tour, because if you look the over the years, more guys from the Nationwide Tour end up keeping their card than the guys from Tour School.

Q. How is it playing now, Magnolia Course?

CHRIS DiMARCO: The fairways were a little bit firmer, I'd say it's fine but the fairways being as soft as they are, I know for me, I had a lot of mud on my ball, and when you're trying to hit a 3 iron or even a 5 wood on some of these greens and you've got mud on your ball, it goes all over the place. So that's my concern. We haven't had rain here for a month, I don't know why the fairways are mush. Turn the sprinklers off.

Q. Speaking of mush the weather forecast next four or five days?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Let's hope the cold front comes through a little quicker and we push it south and get it out of here. I can tell you, this is not going to be a fun course with 40 mile an hour wind.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Chris.

End of FastScripts.

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