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BUICK OPEN

August 1, 2003

Chris DiMarco

GRAND BLANC, MICHIGAN

CHRIS DiMARCO: This is a good place for me to have a lot of good memories here. I've played well in the past and put some low numbers up. You know, the pins are a little bit tougher this year. A lot more 3s out there. And to be able to make some putts, again you have to stretch if you put it in the fairway on 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, you're hitting no more than wedge into the green. So if you can attack those holes; I think I played those holes and I birdied 9, 10, 13 and 14, so that's where you can make your birdies is in that stretch.

TODD BUDNICK: Right now you are 8th on the list for Presidents Cup, and so a good finish here would solidify that for you.

CHRIS DiMARCO: That's a big part of it. I was thinking, I need to make the cut. The more money I make, the better. Obviously, if I start that's a major goal. Who doesn't want to play for their country, that would be an honor. That's a huge goal of mine, to play for Coach Nicklaus would be unbelievable, so, that would be great.

Q. Last year not making the team with the Ryder Cup, does that help you or motivate you any more?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I learned that I need to finish in the Top 10, if you finish in the Top 10, then it doesn't matter. They can't not take you.

You know, Curtis had a hard pick. I was playing well, Verplank was playing well. But up until that point, no rookies had ever been taken, ever. So, you know, I think he made two good picks. Azinger is a bulldog and a great captain's choice.

I felt like if he didn't take Tom Lehman, who I thought deserved to go, Top 10 just about the whole two years, then I thought my chances were pretty good. But again, I had my chances of putting myself on the team and I didn't quite come through.

Q. Have the greens been soft this year?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, they have been soft. It's weird. The fringe and the first cuts are really hard, and the fairways are a lot harder than they were the first two days. You know, the greens are soft enough where you can hit it out of the rough and they are not bouncing over the greens.

Q. How long has it been since you've had to worry about being in the Top 125 or exempt to play?

CHRIS DiMARCO: A long time, but thanks for bringing it up. (Laughter.)

Really, in 1998, I think I finished 111th on that Money List and I think I finished 62nd the next year, and then the last three years, I've been in the Top 20. So it's been awhile.

You know, I think the hardest thing to do is to think about that, to think about, that this number is going to play and play to that number. If you play well, you're just going way by that number. You're just going to fly by it. That's the goal.

Obviously, winning out here takes a lot of the pressure off because it gives you lifetime membership. You get tournaments you're going to get in every year because you're from a past champion category. So I've been able to relax. Everybody asks me, why have I played better, why have I been more consistent. Well, I feel a lot more comfortable out here and I feel like I have a lot more experience. If you have those two things does Tiger ever look nervous when he plays? No, he doesn't. And that's my goal. I try to make myself as least nervous as I can when I play golf.

Q. With some weather coming (inaudible).

CHRIS DiMARCO: That's a shame. I would hate to see that happen.

Q. If we get what they say, how is that going to change the way you play the course tomorrow?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, I won't know what to expect until I come out here tomorrow afternoon or whatever.

You know, if it is supposed to be really bad, if they are saying hail, it could screw the greens up, too. So hopefully we don't get that bad of weather, just rains or whatever and hopefully the wind blows about 40. That would be nice, too.

You know, I can't control what happens. I'll just come out here tomorrow and do the same thing. I'll try to hit the fairways, hit the greens and make putts.

Q. When you were in that other stage of your career, did you obsess about being in the Top 125 or did you just occasionally check it?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, I think that part of the reason is, I think that there's everybody that's out here is really good. I think that everybody knows how good everybody is, but until you know yourself how good you are, I think that's when you get over the hump.

I think when I finally realize and said, you know what, I'm pretty damned good, I'm going to beat a lot of guys, it took a lot of the nervousness out and a lot of the anxiousness out. I went out and played a lot more comfortable and finally started believing in myself and in my abilities.

Probably, you know, '97 on the Nike Tour when I finished Top 3, I won out there that year. I finished third on that Money List. That really showed me that I could play. Obviously switching my putting helped tremendously. That gave me just a lot more confidence on the greens.

Q. Tiger and Kenny Perry and those guys have said that the greens here are some of the best that you play on TOUR and that you have to go low every single day. Do you feel the same sentiment out here?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Absolutely.

Q. That you have to make putts out here?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Absolutely. Yesterday afternoon they were bumpy, no doubt. They were bumping around and it was hard to make putts yesterday afternoon. I played a real good round yesterday.

Today they were perfect. You hit it, aimed it, they went there. They are just tough to read. This is my eighth or ninth year here, so I know how to read the greens. I know the tendencies and I know which putts are really fast, which putts are really slow, and that helps. You try to avoid the 3 , 4 footers out here, because if you give yourself enough of them, you are going to miss one or two.

Q. Obviously this is one of the tournaments where 20 under or so, maybe more, is going to win. Some guys prefer tournaments where it doesn't take as much under par to win. How do you feel about that?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, you just go out there and see what the course gives you. I would like to say that second place would be 6 under; I could go out and shoot 20 under and win by 14 and that would be great. You just give what the course takes.

I like to scoreboard watch, but I also know that I'm going to go out and try to make birdies and play aggressively. The greens are soft enough now, and with the rain coming, they are going to stay soft so that you can fire at pins.

Q. You said that part of the getting over the hump is realizing that you can be a great player. When did that happen for you?

CHRIS DiMARCO: 1997, the Nike Tour, when I won out there. Any time you win, it gives yourself credibility.

Q. Did you have to go through that again once you got onto the PGA TOUR?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Once I got to the PGA TOUR, I got on in '94. If you would have asked me if I felt like I could have won in '94, I would have said yes, but I would have been lying. When I won in 2000, I knew I could win it. Was just a matter of time, and winning that first tournament was unbelievable, and then to win the second and the third.

So you know if you can win, you can win again out here. It's just a matter of believing in yourself. It's hard to win out here, it really is. You've got guys that no matter how good you're playing, there seem to be guys playing just as good. You need some breaks and you need some things to go your way.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's go through your round. You just had that one bogey on No. 4.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah I hit a good drive on 4 and it just didn't cut. It just caught the second left hand bunker, a yard further it kicks way up there in the fairway, kicks up in the bunker. I had no shot. I had blasted out about 15 feed and mate bogey.

Good 8 iron next hole. Next hole, I hit driver, sand wedge about eight feet. Next hole I made par.

8, I made about a 25 footer, really good putt, sidehill, 6 iron.

9, I hit a driver and a cut nine in there about six feet and made that.

10, I made a good putt. Didn't think I made it. I hit a driver and a wedge to about 18 feet long and right. Thought I hit it too hard but it went dead center.

11, I hit a great 4 iron in there about six feet and made birdie.

12, I made a really good par putt. Hit it on the front of the green there in two and had about a 50 footer and knocked it about six feet by and made the putt just to keep the momentum going.

Next hole, laid up, hit a driver, sand wedge to eight feet.

Next hole, perfect drive down the left side, gave me a good angle and hit to about six feet there.

16, I hit driver, 3 wood just short chipped it up to about four feet and made birdie there.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Chris.

End of FastScripts....

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