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| Photo by Bill Bachmann |
Seminole magazine recently spoke with Chris DiMarco as he played his first practice round on the Magnolia course before the Funai Classic at Walt Disney World Resort. We shot the cover at his Tee Up for Life charity golf tournament held at The Country Club at Heathrow, which raised $435,000 for the American Cancer Society. From representing the U.S. at the Ryder Cup to giving back to the county through his tournament, Chris DiMarco is a genuine, down-to-earth, family man known for his good deeds on and off the course.
If you know golf, you know Chris DiMarco. He’s one of the world’s top golfers. He’s been in the top 20 of the PGA tour for the past five years, and finished in the top 10 nine times this season so far. His goal each year is to play in the tour championship (the top 30 on the PGA money list), the Mercedes championship (only for winners of a PGA Tournament), and on the U.S. team in the Ryder Cup. This year he achieved two of those three including a spirited performance in the Ryder Cup.
Other than the major tournaments, the Disney Golf Classic is the most coveted title for Chris. He’s been coming to the tournament with his family since 1979, and it’s still a family affair: his brother Mitch is his caddie this year. Friends, family and area fans come to cheer him on, and there’s a great feeling of fun and camaraderie. It’s Chris’s favorite tournament because when he looks into the gallery, he knows most of the faces.
But the Funai Classic isn’t the only place family takes precedence and makes things special. Since Chris travels so often, he cherishes time with them. In fact, family—his own and others’—is central to his life and affects all he does. When he’s helping kids with cancer and their families through his charity tournament, that, too, becomes a family affair.
Here’s what Chris had to say about golf, family and life in general, and in central Florida.
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| Chris, age 3, on his mother Norma’s lap, with brothers Mitch (left) and Robert. |
You were born in Huntington, New York. When did you move here?
It was 1975. I was just over seven years old.
Your dad, Rich DiMarco, was quite a basketball player at St. John’s University. Did his career influence you towards athletics?
My dad played under Joe Lapchick at St. John’s. I have two older brothers—Rich is eight years older than I am, and Mitch is five years older, and they played sports. Being the youngest one, it was natural for me to be involved with sports.
Did you play in many tournaments as a child?
I played really well at International PeeWee on this course [Magnolia], and a lot of Junior tournaments, which I won, and I consistently got better. And in high school [all three DiMarco boys went to Lake Brantley], I got better, and my stroke average went down. Once I got to college at the University of Florida, I continued to do a little bit better. The first year I only got to play seven tournaments. Then the next year I made all-American, then third team all-American, and in my senior year I was a first team all-American.
When did you realize you had the skills to go pro?
I played football for about eight or nine years, quarterback and middle linebacker—different years. And I played Pop Warner. My son’s in Pop Warner right now, so that’s about the time I started, eight years old. Once I got to high school I realized that I wasn’t big enough, so I stopped. I was always very athletic, and I did very well playing golf the five or six months that football season wasn’t on. Once I got better at golf, it just seemed like the way to go.
How do you rate the courses in Seminole County?
Well, when you look at the courses I get to play, you’re talking the top courses in every state. It’s not like I’m just going to play the vast majority of courses in California—I’m going to play Pebble Beach, I’m going to play Tory Pines, I’m going to play Riviera. I’m playing probably three of their best ones.
But you know what? We have a lot of good courses around here. There are a lot of new little courses. Obviously, I enjoy my home course, the Club at Heathrow, but there’s a bunch of different ones we go to locally. Eagles Dunes is a fun little course. I got to play Eagle Creek the other day; that was very nice. Victoria Hills is nice, [and] Alacqua Lakes Legacy Club is nice. I like to stay pretty close to home. I don’t like to drive a long way to go play golf, since I travel so much during the season.
Are you friends with any of the other local golfers. Any you socialize with?
Oh, yes, a bunch of them. Just at Heathrow alone you have Fulton Allem, Donnie Hammond, Danny Ellis, Cliff Kresge, Zach Johnson and Jim Thorpe. Quite a few guys there.
You’ve traveled the world and could live anywhere you like. What do you like most about living here?
You know the most important thing I like about it? I’ve watched the city grow so much. Orlando is such a great city. The other thing is that I have my whole family here, and my wife’s family is here. It’s so nice to have everybody here. We get together as much as we can, a lot of dinners, a lot of football games, a lot of stuff like that. And a lot of friends. So it’s pretty neat to be here. It’s just nice to be local—it really is. It’s nice to know that I’ve lived here for thirty years, and I’ll probably live here another thirty years, God willing.
Speaking of family . . . Where did you meet your wife, Amy?
I’ve known my wife since 7th grade. We both went to Rock Lake Middle School, and we went to the prom together at Lake Brantley. We’ve been dating since February 1986, so it’s going on 19 years since we first started dating.
How Many children?
Our children are Amanda, Christian, and Abigale. We had our third child, Abigale, in January.
Where do you like to go to as a family?
We love Gator’s Dockside. It’s great for the kids—they have a great time there. And Appleby’s up by the house (Park Place at Heathrow). There’s a nice Colonial TownPark now. They’ve got a new Black Fin, a Dexter’s, and the movie theater is right there, also. It’s nice to have a lot of stuff right where we live. It’s really growing.
You have a summer camp for kids? Tell us about that.
Absolutely. It’s not so much me as it is the Country Club at Heathrow. Since I’m a pro, they use my name and call it the Chris DiMarco Summer Camp at Heathrow. When I’m at home, I go up there and do a 35-45-minute clinic for the kids every week. It’s good to have my name associated with that because that’s our future in golf. We want to teach them young. There are so many more options for kids at such a younger age now than even I was growing up. It’s become a much more popular sport, and a lot more affordable—many more public courses. Even my camp isn’t that expensive for five days. I think it’s even less than $30 per day. That’s a pretty good deal when you consider that it includes lunch, and your son or daughter is out there for five or six hours a day. And we get just as many girls as boys. So that’s a good thing.
And you host a charity event for the American Cancer Society each year?
The charity is very near and dear. That’s something that has gotten very big over the last four years. We’re talking maybe over $400,000 raised this year—with me being the only pro. That’s pretty impressive. And it’s fun. That check I hold up every year, that’s just the best.
Your charity golf tournament is now in its fourth year. How did you become associated with Reach Out for Cancer Kids?
My parents and their friends from Sweetwater Country Club—that’s where we used to live—started this probably back in the late ’80s, early ’90s. A very small deal, a little Calcutta, just a fun deal. My parents wanted to do something because my dad lost both of his parents to cancer, and my mother lost her father to cancer. So my dad said, “Hey, do you want to get involved?” This was just about when I started playing really well and my name was getting out there. So, I said “Sure, lets do it.”
The first year we raised about $78,000. We made people aware, and it was a lot of fun. The second year we brought the pamphlets out, and we were sold out in two days. We raised $178,00 that year. Last year we raised $300,000, and this year we’re probably going to raise over $400,000.
It benefits all three major areas of cancer. And the one I’ve become most closely associated with is ROCK, which is Reach Out for Cancer Kids. And that’s the hardest one—seeing a 6- or 7-year-old kid with no hair, and with a great outlook on life, and yet he’s battling cancer. That’s the tough one.
What’s your involvement? Do you get the all the celebrities yourself?
We all do the celebrities. I work on getting a lot of the prizes. My mother, Norma, and my father, Rich, are the chairpeople. Wally and Jeannie Henderson are the co-chairs. There are so many people that give of their time. We have about 18 meetings per year, and it really comes together. It’s becoming a well-oiled machine now, which is great. There are so many people to thank, it’s unbelievable.
How can other Seminole County residents help, either with the tournament or with the American Cancer Society?
The main thing is that you can always donate to the American Cancer Society. They’re trying to fight this disease. It’s a terrible disease and we’re trying to get rid of it. My Web site for the Cancer Tournament is teeupforlife.com. You can go right there and see what the tournament’s all about. It has video of last year’s event and photos of the celebrities. It has everything. We’re trying to keep it as local as we can. We like the hometown nature of it.
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| “THE BEST PART” Chris and Rich DiMarco present a check for $435,000 to Don Webster of the American Cancer Society. This year, Chris also donated $50,000 to start the Chris DiMarco Foundation for Cancer Research. |
Has working with the cancer kids affected your relationship with your own children, or given you a different outlook on life?
I realize that I have been very fortunate throughout my career. The PGA tour is such a charity organization, and it’s so nice to be able to give back as much as we can. People don’t realize what these families go through. Not only is their child sick, but the parents have to uproot to be with their child as they go through chemo treatments or operations. And that’s another place our money goes to. It’s for the families that come down. We give them money to be able to stay.
There’s also the scholarship program for kids who have fought and beat cancer. Many times their parents don’t have much money because they have hospital bills from their child’s treatment. We give scholarships to the kids who have done that. We have had success there. It’s such a rewarding thing.
We have been very blessed in our life. Knock on wood, I have three very healthy children, and I thank God every day for that.
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