Chris DiMarco has revealed how a telling off from wife Amy inspired him to victory in the inaugural Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship as the Rolex Series event celebrates its 20th edition this week.
The American was one of the game’s biggest stars 20 years ago, a Ryder Cup player who was a whisker from being a Major Champion having lost play-offs at the 2004 US PGA Championship and 2005 Masters Tournament.
That opened the door to planning a truly international schedule and DiMarco arrived in the UAE for his first regular DP World Tour event with the family in tow and Amy on the bag.
“At the time I was playing my best golf and you want to be known as a worldwide player and the opportunity came up,” he said.
“My wife went over with me and we had three children at the time so it was a nice little vacation for us to get away and obviously I was playing good golf so it was nice to experience another culture.
“I had played a bunch of Open Championships and some World Golf Championships overseas.
“In the States, you travel from state to state, on the DP World Tour you travel from country to country so it’s a little bit different.
“Abu Dhabi was a special place, so first class, they put us up in a nice hotel at the Palace, the golf course was great.
“Abu Dhabi was great, like anything, I think the DP World Tour make anything good because they know how to run an event.
“Everyone over there was so nice. I love the respect they have for all the sheikhs and all that. It's great.”
Opening rounds of 71-67 left him three shots off the lead after 36 holes but after a double-bogey on the first in round three and an elite field making moves, he looked in danger of being a passenger over the weekend.
Birdies on the second and fourth got him to parity on the day and then from the eighth he picked up nine shots in as many holes, going on to sign for a 63 and leave himself just one shot behind Henrik Stenson heading into the final round.
Players often say they do not know the reason they go on such a spell of scoring - “something just clicked” being the common phrase – but for DiMarco the inspiration was clear.
“I just remember making double on the first hole and complaining to my wife who is caddying for me,” he said.
“She says ‘listen, I could be out sightseeing right now, seeing Abu Dhabi and I’m caddying for you, stop being a baby and let’s turn this thing around’ and I did.
“I birdied two, birdied four, birdied eight, birdied nine, eagled ten, birdied 11, 12, 13, it was crazy. I think I had an eagle putt on 18 to shoot 11 under and I three-putted for par. It was a crazy day, a crazy good day.”
That Amy was on the bag for DiMarco’s final professional win seems fitting as she is the one who has carried the bag at both the start and finish of his career.
The pair have now been married for 34 years and Chris knows there is nobody he would rather have by his side.
“This is her second full year caddying for me on the Champions Tour,” Chris, now 57, said. “She’s the kind of person that isn’t just going to sit there all week, she likes to do something and stay active and she loves carrying the bag.
“We’re out there together, the Champions Tour can be a lonely place if you don’t have a companion with you, we’ve been married 34 years this year and she can caddy for me and we still get along, we’re like best friends so it’s nice.
“When we first got married in 91, she caddied in 92 the whole Canadian Tour and then in 93, the whole Nike Tour so she knows what she’s doing.”
He added of his win in Abu Dhabi: “I think the coolest thing was just walking up 18, I had a 15-footer for birdie and I think Henrik had a long, long eagle putt, and just walking up to that green with my wife on the bag and just getting to experience that with her and her getting to experience what it’s like.
“I rolled it up within a foot and to have an easy tap-in to win was just special.
“We have pictures of her and I with the trophy, we’ve got the 18th pin flag, we had it all in a frame when we lived in Orlando but it broke on the way out so I’m in the process of getting it refixed.”
DiMarco would twice more return to Abu Dhabi in 2007 and 2015, taking the opportunity on his latter trip to take in all the Emirate has to offer.
And while he has had a career which has handed him three PGA TOUR wins, two appearances in both the Ryder and Presidents Cups and six Major top tens, he will always treasure his days in the desert.
“Any time you can win anywhere in the world it’s big,” he said.
“Your first win on the PGA TOUR is big, your second one you kind of validate yourself and then a third one and to go over and win on the DP World Tour, something you’re not accustomed to doing, just kind of solidifies you around the world with all the other players, they look at you as a worldwide player. It was a significant time in my life.”
