Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Chris DiMarco Makes First Masters Appearance

Aired April 06, 2001 - 11:27   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: For golf fans out there, this is like a religious moment. These next -- these four days, The Masters golf tournament is underway in Augusta, Georgia. In the lead after the first round, former University of Florida golfer Chris DiMarco. It's his first appearance at The Masters.

Let's get more information on this fantastic golf tournament. Let's go CNN Sports Illustrated's Tom Rinaldi. He is joining us on the phone. Tom, hello. Good to see -- good to talk to you. We can't see you. We can talk to you at least.

TOM RINALDI, CNN SPORTS ILLUSTRATED CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. You can't -- you can't actually see me, Daryn, not because we don't have cameras out here, but because The Masters doesn't let you use them while play is going on if you're not paying for the rights.

In case you don't know that much about Chris DiMarco, that would put you pretty squarely in the majority of the rest of America and probably the rest of the world, including golf fans. Not a lot of people know very much about him.

He's a guy who lost his tour card as recently as after the '95 season. He was on the Nike tour, a guy who would drive from tournament to tournament in a custommade van painted in the bright colors of the University of Florida Gators, but he found his touch -- he has one tour victory. That was at the Pennsylvania Open last year, but his earnings on the money list qualified him to get here to The Masters.

And after walking about nine of the holes with him yesterday, you could see he had a great putting touch just 25...

KAGAN: Tell us about this putt. Tell us about grip his when he putts. It's called the psycho grip?

RINALDI: That is correct.

KAGAN: That is so strange looking. It looks like he's sweeping up the floor rather than putting.

RINALDI: Exactly. Actually, it's -- it's a grip that's used frequently for people who have what's called a broomstick putter or a very large putter that comes up to chest level. He does not use a putter that big, but he still uses that same grip. I joked with him yesterday that it seems sort of like a golf version of Ty Cobb's golf grip if even Ty Cobb if even Ty Cobb wanted to contort the grip even further. It's a very, very strange grip, but he's putting very well. Tees off a little later this hour.

KAGAN: Can't talk about Augusta or golf without talking about Tiger Woods, who I understand -- at least he was scheduled to tee off about -- about an hour ago. Has he started today?

RINALDI: He has, and he's got it going. He's already two under on his run. He shot a 70 yesterday in the first round. He's on the front nine right now. He had it down to four under. Remember 70 -- there were some scores yesterday, but 70 is a good omen for him. Why? Nineteen ninety-seven, he shot a 70.

He went on to tie or set 20 course records on the way to winning first green jacket. Of course, that's what prompted Jack Nicklaus to say he expected Tiger to win 10 more. How's that for a little bit of pressure as he tries to chase history in winning an unprecedented 4th consecutive major championship. So he's out on the course right now and seems to be playing well.

KAGAN: Well, I know other golfers would say that -- they're very critical of the golf media saying that people like you don't care about anybody besides Tiger Woods, but besides Tiger and yesterday's leader of Chris DiMarco, who are you interested to watch? I'm -- Phil Mickelson Michelson comes to mind for me.

RINALDI: He does instantly. But, you know, the -- I think one of the interesting things about The Masters with the weather that we've, the fact that the course isn't playing as difficult, experience doesn't seem to play as much a factor as it has recently, but he's going to see some low scores still put up by some people that will surprise folks. Phil Mickelson has been playing very, very well.

But take a look maybe for Angel Cabrera. He's tied for the lead right now. So is Steve Stricker. Stricker, for example, is a guy who was tied for the lead going into the last round of the PGA championship back in 1998. He had a stare down with Vijay Singh. He lost by a single stroke. So when you think about guys who've been in contention before, there are some players who could come up and prevent Tiger from making history and get us people covering golf tournaments to perhaps pay some attention to some of the other guys.

KAGAN: Make you do some work out there. Well, Tom Rinaldi, no matter who wins and who is leading today, you enjoy the time. Thanks for the report, and I'll see you out there tomorrow. I'm looking forward to that.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com