BUICK OPEN

August 3, 2003

Chris DiMarco

TODD BUDNICK: Chris, just one bogey today. You gave it your best run. It was just kind of tough to catch Jim Furyk out there today.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Got to have a great start. First two being pretty difficult with that pin back left. I look up and see he birdied 1 and all of the sudden I see him hit it like a foot on No. 2. I'm going, it's going to be long day trying to catch him. And I birdied 4 and 5 to get up there with him within one of the lead, and I had some good chances on 6, 7 and 8, all good putts, a little speed was off on them.

11, my only bogey of the day I hit it on the back fringe. Probably made the first putt, caught the left lip and went by about two and a half feet. My second putt hit something, bounced and 360-ed and came back out at me.

I had a good chance on 14 that I could have made, and it lipped out.

And birdied 15 for the third day, which was a pretty good birdie.

And 16, I missed about a four-and-a-half footer behind the hole, so I had my chances.

TODD BUDNICK: Talk about that great save on 18.

CHRIS DiMARCO: I was just trying to get it on the green somewhere and it ended up going a foot, so was happy it ended up there. I'm going at the pin. I figured if I could get to 20 (-under), I might still have a chance. Unfortunately I was in the rough and could not really control my spin out there of it jumped on me a little bit and I was fortunate to get up-and-down.

Q. And the tied for second finish helped you in the points for the Presidents Cup.

CHRIS DiMARCO: That is a major goal. Everybody that's vying for that spot is here, and I was trying to not let any of those guys finish ahead of me, so that was very good for points.

Q. The fact that Jack Nicklaus is the captain, will that make be making the team even sweeter, playing for somebody like him?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Absolutely. That's part of it. Playing for your country is probably the most intriguing part of the whole thing. I don't know anybody who would not want to play for their country. I'm looking forward to it. I feel like this week probably got me over that hump to where I'm a little bit safer. I was certainly -- being eighth place, Jerry Kelly right behind me, and I think Bob Estes was tenth and was pretty close, too. This was a good jump, because I think the points are doubled, aren't they?

This should hopefully do it for me. I thought about it a lot out there, and I might even have put more pressure on myself out there because I was certainly thinking about it. And obviously trying to win the tournament, too, but nice to perform with a little extra pressure.

TODD BUDNICK: All ten guys who are in that top 14 made the cut.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, I saw that.

Q. With so many guys up there close, would you have thought somebody would have been able to catch Jim?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, Jim is a great player. My goodness, the guy won the U.S. Open. He knows how to win when he's a couple shots back and he knows how to maintain a lead.

The great players, nobody was really doing much to him today, and so he didn't have to try to make birdies. What did he shoot, 4-under? So his 4-under was really based on how we played. And nobody put pressure on him, nobody got ahead of him to where he felt like he had to make birdies, and he just kind of put it in the middle of the greens and made the putts he needed to make. And obviously he's a tough guy to catch with a three-shot lead.

Q. Having said that about him, where would you rate him as a front-runner out here now?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I mean, what is he in the world, like fifth, sixth? He's one of the best players in the world. I mean, obviously. He's a great player. He's very, very consistent. I don't think he's overpowering, but he's a lot longer than people think he is. And he's a great putter, a great driver of the golf ball. He puts it in the fairway a lot, and that's a key.

Q. How did you like your week here, Chris, the crowd, the golf course, just everything about it?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, it's a great, great town. I love Flint. I've played well here. This is my second, second place finish here. I had a stretch of ten bad holes yesterday. My first ten holes I was 3-over par. On this golf course, that's like 6-over par anywhere else. So if I could play those ten holes over again, I could maybe be holding that trophy.

As far as the crowds, everything is great here. 17 is a little bit boisterous. You've got a couple people yelling. There was a couple times out there, I know Kenny Perry and I were talking about it. You have some big important 4- and 5-footers, and someone yelling: "Pick it up, it's good." It's hard to make putts when they are yelling that kind of stuff.

It's funny, I said to Kenny, "I would love to find out a few of these guys that are really drunk and yelling and get myself a cooler with a 12-pack, go into their work the next day and drink some beer and yell at them when they are working. It would be great."

"What kind of sales call is that?" That would be great. (Laughing).

But they pay their money and they can have a good time out here. It's fun. You know, there's two holes on TOUR; one at Phoenix on 16 that people are yelling and screaming. So you've just got to take it as it is. But usually, you're talking the 71st hole of the tournament with everything on the line; it's pretty crucial, and they are doing the wave. You're trying to win a golf tournament.

Q. They were like that a couple years ago, too, when you were in contention, weren't they?

CHRIS DiMARCO: They are like that every year, every day. You get used to it and you put up with it and you try to block it out and you just try to focus. You know, again, there's a sign on the tee that says: "Don't throw any balls to the crowd." I think they need to put that sign on the green so they can read it, because they are all asking us to throw those balls. And if we don't throw them they go, "You're an idiot." I think they should read it, and then they won't ask and everything will be good.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's go through your birdies.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Good drive on 1, 3-wood just short of the green.

2, I hit a great drive to six feet and made that.

2-putted 3.

4, hit a driver and a 9-iron to about 12 feet and made that.

Next hole, I hit driver, 6-iron to about 12 feet and made that.

Just burned the edge on 6 from about 15 feet.

Same thing on 7 from 15 feet.

8, same thing from 15 feet.

9, I hit a good 9-iron in there and just spun down the hill and I made about a 6- or 7-footer for par. That was nice to keep the momentum going.

10, I had a putt just stop on me probably about an inch short.

And 11 I had that 360.

I didn't birdie 12, which kind of hurt.

Made a great little four, 5-foot downhill slider on No. 13 for birdie.

14, I hit a really good putt that caught the right edge that didn't go.

15, I hit a driver and a 7-iron to about 7 feet and made that for birdie.

16, I hit driver 3-wood just short. Chipped a 5-iron to about four feet past. Again, just it was so fast that I just -- I just pushed it a hair and it broke, hitting so easy, it broke more than I thought. Missed it.

17, I hit a 5-iron to the middle of the green, that was about an 18-footer and almost made it.

18, I hit it over the green and hit a great little flop-shot to about six, eight inches. Made a nice par to end the day, which was nice.

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