It's a Wonderful Life

The Golf Digest Interview: Chris DiMarco had his share of struggles on tour, but now he's got it made. And you know what? It's fun

Chris DiMarco, A Family Man And A Pro Golfer

Photo: Eric Larson

By Ron Kaspriske

Photo By Eric Larson

September 2004

In many ways Chris DiMarco epitomizes the modern PGA Tour player.

He has a beautiful house (complete with 17 TVs, seven refrigerators and two Golden Tee video games). He has a fancy Mercedes, a loving wife, three beautiful children and more than $12 million in career earnings. He may not be on the tour's A-list with Woods, Els, Mickelson and Singh, but he's closer than you think. DiMarco, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, is ranked 21st in the world and has been battling for a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team all summer after making the Presidents Cup team in 2003.

Yet, despite his lifestyle and status, DiMarco insists he's still an everyman who knows what it's like to be sweating a mortgage payment. A former All-American at the University of Florida, DiMarco grinded his way around the world from South Africa to Canada before finally becoming a regular on the PGA Tour in 1998. And he can thank Skip Kendall for showing him the unusual claw putting grip that turned his career around. DiMarco, who turns 36 in August, is on pace to make at least $2 million in tour earnings for the fourth consecutive year, but he'll be the first to tell you that the latest generation of tour players don't know how good they have it.

During a series of interviews over five months that began in Los Angeles and ended in New York, not far from his native Long Island, DiMarco had a lot to say about life on tour, from perks at tournaments to near-fisticuffs with a heckler to what Phil Mickelson said to him on the final hole of this year's Masters. DiMarco even told us who will replace Tim Finchem as the next PGA Tour commissioner.

It would seem that winning majors and playing for history is the goal of every golfer, but DiMarco says that life has become so good on tour he's satisfied with making cuts, sprinkling in top-10 finishes and occasionally winning. Hey, at least he's honest.

Golf Digest: That was quite a read you gave Mickelson before his winning putt on the 72nd green at Augusta this year, which he now approvingly calls "being DiMarco'd." Did Phil at least send you a thank-you note?
DiMarco: It was fate. I tried to hit my bunker shot hard and use the slope to let it roll back to the hole. Instead, it stayed up there, right on Phil's putting line. All he said to me was, "Show me the way." Now, as I approach the putt, it's the first time I'm really nervous all day—if I don't put a good putt on it, he's screwed. But I hit a pure putt. I played it a foot outside the hole, and it just missed. I asked him later if he played a little more break, and he said, "I played another two balls out after watching yours." I just think it was his time.

Have the two of you talked since that day?
Oh, yeah. In New Orleans a few weeks later we went to dinner with some good friends of mine and our wives. There were like 20 of us. We joked around. My buddies were all over him. They were like, "Hey, Phil, glad Chris could show you the way." That kind of stuff. That's what Phil and I have in common—we both like to dig a little and razz each other.

Did you and Phil have any other conversations that day at Augusta?
On the eighth tee I was four over for the day, and he was two over. He walked up to me and said, "I don't care what happens. I don't care who wins. But let's have someone from this group win." He played five under from there on in. You've gotta take your hat off to him.

The Masters must have been bittersweet for you. You started the final round tied for the lead and shot 76 to tie for sixth.
It's funny, I can tell from the first three holes on Sunday of every tournament I've won and every tournament I could have won whether I'm going to win. At the Masters, you could see things weren't right. I expected people to come up to me and say, "What happened?" Instead, it was, "Great playing. What a great Masters. Way to go." Nobody said I choked. Looking back, maybe I was too hard on myself. I didn't get emotional. I didn't cry. It's golf. There are three reasons I didn't cry—my three children. That quickly put the day into perspective.

You've had some other memorable experiences at Augusta. In your first year there, 2001, you led after the first and second rounds.
I got into the locker room for the first time, and I'm just in awe of the place. I take my shoes off and put them on the bench. And as soon as I did it, one of the attendants came up to me and said, "Now, here at Augusta, we do not put our shoes on the bench." I said, "Okaaay. I better write that one down."

Are there other awkward moments for newcomers on tour?
I had a through-line incident with Matt Kuchar and R.W. Eaks when Matt was an amateur. Matt kept walking on the through-line [the line that a comeback putt would take if the first one rolls past the hole]. Not necessarily on mine, but on R.W.'s line. And R.W. wasn't playing well, so he was getting irritated. So I went up to Matt, and he was very appreciative. He really wasn't sure what the through-line was. Matt was great about it.

The one thing I've learned: Try to be as courteous as you can. Some guys are real sensitive out here. You just try to stay out of their way.