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WACHOVIA CHAMPIONSHIP


May 5, 2004


Chris DiMarco


CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

CHRIS REIMER: Talk about the stature of the tournament. It's a great field in only the second year. What's bringing the top players here?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I think it was maybe four or five years ago I came here for a few Pro-Ams. I remember playing the course and thinking it's phenomenal. I remember them making a comment that they wanted to bring a tournament here. Then last year -- the bottom line is, if you have a really good golf course, we will, period.

I think word got out that the course is really good. You could hold a Major here tomorrow, if you wanted to. The amenities are great. My gosh, we're given Mercedes. Everything is right here. It's great. You kind of feel the tournament has been here for 70, 80 years already.

Q. How much has it helped you with your performance in the Masters since that time or has it helped you at all?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Well, I've only played one tournament since. Any time you can put yourself in that position to have a chance to win that tournament, obviously your confidence is pretty high. It was a great experience playing in that last group. It was probably the most fun I've had on a golf course in a long time, other than the Presidents Cup.

Q. Both Tiger and Vijay were in here earlier and questions about the World Golf Rankings have come up. From your impression, what's your view of how the World Golf Rankings work right how; and secondly, as far as the gap that Vijay was talking about that he has been able to close on Tiger?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I don't know how they do it. I don't know how they get them. I don't know how they do them. I'll play a week -- I mean, I was like 17 in the world before Heritage, and Houston I didn't play, and then I went to like 23. It's amazing. So I don't know how they work. We need some type of system, for sure. They've tried to explain to us how it works, I really have no clue how it works. I know obviously if you play real well your ranking goes up.

Q. Did you go to the Speedway yesterday?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I went home and spent time with the family for a day. I did at Doral, it was fun. I wanted to go, I missed it, unfortunately.

Q. (Inaudible)?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Well, Vijay has played -- I think if you look at the tournaments played, I'm sure Vijay is probably 15, 20 ahead of Tiger in the last 2 or 3 years, and I don't know whether playing more tournaments helps you or playing less tournaments helps you, but he's also won five or six tournaments in that stretch. Like I said, good golf is going to get you up there to close the gap.

I think in the last 12 or 15 tournaments, Vijay has won six or seven times, and Tiger has only won one or two, so the gap is going to get closer.

Q. How driven are you to get a spot on the Ryder Cup team?

CHRIS DiMARCO: That's my main focus right now. Actually, my main focus is to win a tournament. If I win a tournament that's going to help me tremendously for the Ryder Cup points. I want to be on that team really bad, obviously, it's in the States, on our soil. It's certainly a major goal right now. I'm playing a lot of golf this summer to help myself hopefully get on that team.

Q. (Inaudible)?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I'm playing a couple of extra tournaments that I normally wouldn't play, I'm playing Westchester, Memorial, which I've taken off the last couple of years. I want to be on that team. I experienced the Presidents Cup last year, it was one of the best experiences in my life. Team golf is different than what we get to do and it was awesome.

Q. Since you bring up the Presidents Cup, it will be a while before it's back in America. Do you perceive that victory generating more interest in the Presidents Cup here in America?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, obviously the Ryder Cup has been around for a long time. It's hard to say. There are so many great international players that don't get to be on the Ryder Cup. I'll tell you, Vijay and Nick Price and Ernie Els, and these guys. Last year when we played the Presidents Cup, there wasn't a European in the Top 10 in the world, so all the Top 10, 12 players of the Americans were International players. As far as pure competition goes, they were probably more competitive at the time than the Europeans were.

Q. It might be along those lines, it might be kind of a hypothetical question, but do you ever wish they could find some way to combine the European with International and have U.S. against both fields in one event?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yes, I would love to do it where we could have the International, the Europeans, and us all in one thing, and we play a threesome, everybody plays everybody. If you did a point system like that it would be pretty neat, actually.

Again, that's the one thing about -- I know that last year -- I would love to play every year for my country, that's fine with me, I've never done it before, but I know guys who have been doing it since the Presidents Cup, the Davis Loves, the Tigers, the Mickelsons, it's a lot to expect at the end of the year. It's a lot of tournaments. And then to go overseas or whatever every year, I can understand where they're coming from. Europeans get a year off, and the Internationals get a year off, but we're playing every year.

Q. (Inaudible)?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Again, it's fine with me. I would play every year. I would play every week.

That's it? Nobody wants to know about the read I gave Mickelson? (Laughter).

End of FastScripts.
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