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A Quick 9: Chris DiMarco

Chris DiMarco enters the Masters this week having finished in the top 10 the last two years, including last year's runner-up finish in a dramatic playoff. On Monday, the diehard University of Florida alum watched his alma mater's basketball team win the NCAA national championship. We caught up with Chris recently for a wide-ranging Quick 9...

jb
DiMarco won the 2006 Abu Dhabi Golf Championship


1. How excited are you to come back to the Masters?
CD: It's obviously always good to come back here. Augusta National is one of those courses that just fits my eye, although it's getting harder to see as far as the pins are getting away from me. It's certainly one of those places where I have great memories.  Even as a spectator, or watching on TV, I have great memories of this place.  Every green you walk on, you know a great thing that's happened there. It's just always nice to come back.

2. What did you learn from your experience here last year?
CD: Actually it was really the year before last that taught me the most.  Last year, I still contend I did not hit a bad shot Sunday morning and still shot 41. I'm telling you, I did not hit a bad shot, not one shot I looked up and went, "Wow, that's not good."  It just taught me on Sunday, instead of just fading back, I remember how mad I was not being part of the mix with Ernie and Phil and being in the last group kind of watching.  I took a seat back and I watched. I watched how Phil played and he played aggressive.  That's what I tried to do last year.  I learned that you have to be aggressive in a major on Sunday to win it.  They are not going to come back to you, especially here. You have to be aggressive and that's what I took out of it.

3. Is there one tip someone gave you along the way that maybe you go back to when you're struggling?
CD:  Not necessarily a tip, but, growing up in my family, the competitive nature between me and my brothers is what drove me.  I really got better in college.  My coach, Buddy Alexander, really helped me a lot, mainly with the mental part of the game.  He knew he could focus on feel with me.  I wasn't very mechanical with my golf swing so we worked a lot on fundamentals - good grip, good alignment, good ball position, etc.  Those are still the things I work on week to week.

4.  What do you do to stay consistant at the highest level of the game?
CD: One of the keys is to stay consistant with your equipment so you're not always tweaking.  This is probably the third or fourth year using the same golf ball so there's nothing I have to do in the offseason to make an adjustment.  I've used the same irons and putter for six years now.  The driver changes pretty regularly as something comes out that's bigger, better, longer and you try to fit those in but the more consistent you can be with your equipment the more consistent you can be overall.

5. You mentioned that you've played Titleist golf balls for years.  How important is it to have confidence in your golf ball?
CD: It's huge and that's the thing that makes Titleist so great is that it makes golf balls for different people.  There's one ball that's perfect for me and that's the one I use.  We're always trying to make it even better, obviously, maybe a little bit longer, but for the most part, it's nice to know that I can trust my ball flight with my irons.  I know how far I can hit it, I know what it will do into the wind and with a crosswind, chipping and how it will spin.  That's key because it's something you don't have to worry about and it really helps a lot when you can just go out and play by feel.

6. Have you ever been "in the zone" and can you describe it?
CD: It doesn't happen often and it usually doesn't last for a whole week. Sometimes it lasts two or three rounds and you kind of just peak.  For me, it happens a lot on the greens where I can't wait to just get on the green and see the line.  It's almost like I see a yellow line showing me the break and I just have to get it started.  If I start getting 4, 5, 6 under par, I don't even pick my head up, I just think let's go and I'm usually where I need to be - real precise with my irons, not too many mental mistakes.  Golf's a lot of peaks and valleys and I think you need to know that.  You can go out some days, hit 16 greens and shoot 64; another day you can shoot 64 hitting only 10 greens. You can also hit 16 greens and shoot 74.  Sometimes scoring is the hardest thing and no matter how good you're hitting it and how good you're putting it, you still have to get the ball in the hole, so scoring is the most important thing.  Sometimes the most gratifying rounds are rounds that might normally be a 75 that you turn into a 70.  Those are the ones you have a headache after because you really grinded it out but they're also the fun rounds.

7. Do you have a pre-round routine that you follow before each tournament?
CD: It varies depending on my tee time.  If it's a morning tee time, I like to get up a few hours before my tee time and head to the course, eat some breakfast and take care of everything at the course.  About 30 minutes before my tee time, I like to go to the range, hit some balls, hit some putts and go. If it's an afternoon tee time, I like to get up and have a big breakfast, like pancakes or something to fill me up, because if it's a 12:30 tee time for example, it's hard for me to eat at like 11:45.  I'll have the big breakfast for a base and then maybe just an energy bar before I tee off to sustain me and then another one at the turn.  That's why those 12:30 or 1:00 tee times are hard because it's right in the middle of lunch and you have to eat so early, you can't be eating at 11:45.

8. What's the number one swing fault you see in the amateurs you play with and what tip would you give them to correct it?
CD: Actually, there are a few.  If you're talking about a full shot, its usually their alignment, they're usually aimed right, and then they come over the top and hit a big cut.  On the greens, the hardest thing is they're not used to putting greens like we putt, they're used to putting a lot slower so their speed is off. I try to help them by giving them a visual of how far they should have to hit it. If it's a 15-footer maybe only hit it 10 feet and pretend that's the hole. It gives them a good feel for the turn and the speed.

9. When did you decide professional golf was what you wanted to do?
CD: The luxury that we have now, that a lot of the younger kids don't have, is we had a great time in college.  I had a phenomenal time in college.  I was a kid, I was immature, we went out and had a good time; we got to do all that. Now, their focus is so much more on just getting to the Tour.  It wasn't really until my senior year that I felt like I could play on the Tour and make a living at it.  It was fine that I didn't get right out on Tour and got to play some mini-tours - The Hogan Tour, Canadian Tour, South African Tour, etc. I got to travel around and go all over the place and it was a lot of fun. It helped me grow up and mature and get ready for the PGA TOUR.

Most importantly, I learned what it felt like to be in pressure situations.  I always thought I was good under pressure, but I needed to have that feeling a lot.  It took me a good 6-8 times of being under pressure before I was really in a position to win.  Some people are fine right out of the shoot but it took me some time to get used to it and I'm glad I did.  I got to travel around, have a great time.  Me and my wife were married right out of school so we go to travel all around the world without any kids to all these great places and really just enjoy each other.  Once we were settled, we were on the regular Tour and it was nice.

NOW A QUICKER NINE...

1. Favorite Tour stop? 
CD: Augusta.  The history of it really makes it something special. You can really feel the aura of the tournament, all the memories of the great things that have happened there just seem to seep out of the greens. It's also the only major that's held at the same course every year and the course just sets up well for me. I like the greens, I think the speed of them really helps me. It's great how fast they are. You don't actually have to pay too much attention to where the pins are. You're really just hitting to sections of the green and have the ball funnel into spots. The imagination of that really helps me.
2. Best moment on the golf course?
CD: Both are from last year - the putt on the 18th green to win the Presidents Cup was probably the greatest because it was a team event and there were other players involved. On an individual level, it has to be Augusta, the putt I made on 18. We've all dreamed about being in that situation, having a putt to tie at Augusta. To really be there and to know how nervous you are, but not nervous, it's really weird. Before the round if you told me I was going to have that putt, I would have been so nervous, but during the moment, being in "the zone," I was not that nervous. I was still nervous of the situation, but I wasn't nervous about my ability to knock it in the hole. I was very confident that putt was going in. Obviously that's the feeling you want, that's the feeling you strive for as a player - to know that you're going to make that putt when it counts. At the Presidents Cup, I thought I was going to make it; at the Masters I knew I was going to make it.
3. Favorite book?
CD: I read a lot of James Patterson, Michael Creighton, John Grisham, Laurence Sanders. I like mystery books as opposed to non-fiction.

jb
"Caddyshack"

4. Favorite movie?
CD: Other than Caddyshack, which is probably every golfer's favorite, I like Stripes, Forrest Gump and Wedding Crashers.
5. First car and current car?
CD: My first car was a 1979 Toyota Carolla liftback. It was actually perfect for me because I could run into anything - walls, trees, curbs. That thing was like a tank. I currently drive a Mercedes CL55.
6. Do you have any superstitions or rituals?
CD: With my golf balls for sure. I use 5's on Thursday, 6's on Friday, 7's on Saturday and 8's on Sunday. I also use the same pivot tool, same quarter and same penny that I've been using for about the last 10 years. I used to carry five tees in my pocket, but not so much anymore. There are definitely some superstitions, though. I also like the clubs in the right position in the bag. Change is sometimes okay, but a lot of times it's no good in a golfer's repertoire.
7. What do you like to do in your down time when you're away from home playing a tournament?
CD: For me, it all depends on whether my family is with me. If my family is there, we'll go do something fun. If not, it's fun for me to just chill - maybe sit in the room and watch some TV and just not be bothered. It's nice to have those days every now and then.
8. Did you play a lot of football growing up?
CD: I did. I played for about nine years, from when I was six until I was about 15. I wanted to play longer but my freshman year of high school I was still really small. I was 5'2" and there were kids who were 6'2"-6'3". I figured there was no way I was going to go up against them so I made the right career choice and went to golf.
9. Everyone knows you're a big Florida Gators fan. How did that come about?
CD: Well, I have two older brothers - one started at Florida in 1979 and the other in 1981 and then I started in 1986 - so for 26 years I've been a Gator. There was really no other school I was going to go to but there. It's a lot of fun, it's a great school and it's such a great atmosphere, especially on Saturday afternoon.

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