BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 29, 2003

Chris DiMarco

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Great day today, 8-under par 64. If we could just go over your round and tell us how it went.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, I got off to a great start. The 10th is one of the harder holes we play. In years past, I've always played it kind of weak, and I've always had par putts. This year I said I was going to play a little more aggressive and threw it up about four feet and made birdie.

11, hit a driver and a wedge about eight feet and made birdie.

The next hole I hit a little 7-iron to about four feet and made birdie there.

No. 13, I hit a driver and 3-wood just short of the green and chipped it up about two feet and made birdie.

So I got off to a great start birdieing the first four.

Had a couple chances out there and made a great par save on 16. Made about a 20-footer for par. Hit it on the green in two on 18 and 1 and 2-putted both of those.

No. 8, I hit a driver and 3-wood -- or 3-wood and a 3-wood and hit it in there about eight feet and made that.

Last one I hit a good drive, a little chip 9-iron to about 12 feet past the hole and made that coming down.

Q. You shot 64 today and there's two guys who shot 63 and there's - I don't know - three other guys at 8-under or something like that. What's your mindset coming into this tournament, knowing that, you know, you can shoot 64 in the first rounds and maybe not lead, or that you have to get to 30-under to win?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Well, you just look at it that way, just what you said. You know that you have to get a round to 30 or somewhere. It's just a long process. It's going to take you three, four, five days to get there, and you've just got to take it one day at a time and just take it one hole at a time.

The courses are definitely going to play easy. There's no doubt about it. They are soft, which means that the ball's not going to run into the rough too much. Basically, you are going to have a lot of chances for birdie, and you've just got to take advantage of them as best you can and try to just make a bunch of birdies this week.

I don't even know really what to tell you. You just have to know that you have to go low the whole week.

Q. You have a pretty decent history here of shooting those low scores. Some guys, it looks like maybe they are afraid to maybe go to 64, 65, do you feel comfortable, that you can go out and do it?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, I think Bermuda Dunes is one of the tougher ones we play, that and La Quinta are probably the two toughest. I've got that and Indian Wells back-to-back. So I have to try to really work hard these next couple of days and try to get as many under as I can and see what happens.

You know, it's going to be a long week. I mean, we've still got a regular tournament going from now on. We have 72 holes left. I can just put myself in position. When you are out there, there's no scoreboards or leaderboards, you don't know how anybody else is doing. I saw some cameras out there, so I figured I was one of the guys playing good where I was at.

Other than that, you just go about your business and see where it adds up on Saturday and then you go to Palmer again on Sunday and try to hope that you're not -- you're 30-under and not five or six back.

Q. Does the rotation of those courses, you know exactly where you're playing, obviously, do you look at what you have first or does that really matter?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, it's weird. Out of all of the courses, Indian Wells says you should shoot really low on and that's the one I've struggled on the most over the years.

It really doesn't matter which course you're playing. If you're not driving the ball really straight and you're not putting yourself in position to make birdies, any course is going to play tough. So you just stay patient out there and know you're going to have -- if you miss more than four or five greens on any of these courses throughout the day, you're obviously not hitting the ball that well.

The fairways are certainly generous enough and the greens are not really that small and they are really not that firm. It's just basically, you know, just going out and trying to make a whole bunch of birdies.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thank you very much and best of luck the rest of the week.

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