	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

WYNDHAM CHAMPIONSHIP

August 16, 2007

Steve Marino

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA

CHRIS REIMER: Alright. Steve Marino joining us, 7-under on his round today. Just go ahead and talk about, especially the closing finish there, few birdies to end it and what it was like to finish near the top of the leaderboard.
STEVE MARINO: Yeah, I finished real well. I birdied was it 13, 14, 15 and I was able to take advantage of those two par-5s and I hit a nice drive and a nice wedge into 14 to about 12 feet and made it, then I hit a really good shot into 17 and made about a 12-footer for birdie there.
Yeah, it was really great to finish like that. I was playing well and felt really good to, you know, play I guess 4-under the last five.
CHRIS REIMER: You're 12th in driving distance. The course on the par-5s there's a couple holes where you can take advantage of some length.
STEVE MARINO: Absolutely. I was able to do that today. I hit some strong drives on all the par-5s and was able to easily reach all of them.
There's a little bit of rough but if you hit it in the rough a lot of times you'll be able to get it out. I'm just out there hammering away on those par-5s.
CHRIS REIMER: Look at your year and I think the word would be consistent. You've gotten four Top-10s, you've made a good number of cuts for a rookie.
Would you say, you know, 60th on the FedExCup standing, are you happy with the year as a whole?
STEVE MARINO: Yeah, absolutely. I mean as a rookie I didn't really know what to expect I could be fighting for to get in the FedExCup, you know, outside the top 144.
To already lock-up my card and already be in the first two FedExCup events this year has definitely been a success.
CHRIS REIMER: Take some questions.

Q. It seems like the scores are pretty low out there today. Are you surprised by that?
STEVE MARINO: No, not really. The greens are pretty soft. Like I was talking about, the rough, it's somewhat penal but you can get away with driving it in the rough and there's no wind so I mean it was just right for scoring this morning.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about the rough? Two part, talk about the rough and just how thick or not thick it is and the greens? How long does it take for you guys to adjust to these?
STEVE MARINO: Well, I lived down in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida so we have that bermuda rough all over the place. It's kind of an advantage for me playing a lot of golf down there.
It didn't take me long to adjust to it. And also, you can get some bad lies in the rough. It's not to the point where you're clipping out.
You can always advance it down the fairway and maybe even run it up on the green so I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of guys using strategy of just hitting driver on a lot of holes and trying to get as close to the green as they possibly can.

Q. Some of your best finishes were at the AT & T and the Buick. This field has kind of been thinned out over the last couple days. This is a tournament that gives you pretty good shots to finally get a win?
STEVE MARINO: Yeah, absolutely. You know, the top players aren't playing this week. I guess they're resting up for the four week FedExCup binge so, yeah, I mean I'm looking forward to playing well the rest of the week and, you know, hopefully I can keep playing well and have a chance come Sunday.

Q. Do players really notice who is in the field and who is not? I mean do you look at that as an advantage when some of the so-called bigger names pull out?
STEVE MARINO: You know, I don't particularly pay attention to who is playing and who is not playing. You kind of -- when the big guys are playing, it's kind of a different feel.
You don't have to look in the field to know that Tiger is here and Phil is here and Vijay is here. It's just a different feel, little bit different atmosphere, more of a buzz.
But, you know, it's just a golf tournament no matter what, if they're here or not. I'm looking forward to playing the next three days.

Q. Talk a little bit about the FedExCup given the fact that you're in it and apparently you didn't start of the year, you wouldn't have projected yourself in that.
STEVE MARINO: Right. I'm really looking forward to the next four weeks. I think I'm like he was saying about 60th on the points. I'm not exactly sure where I stand but, you know, I'm really looking forward to it. You know, they're all great golf courses, Westchester, Deutsche Bank, Cog Hill and obviously Eastlake, they're all wonderful golf courses and I'm hoping to have a good week this week and hopefully be able to jump up into that top 70 so I'll be able to play the first three.
I think I'm definitely in the first two right now but the main goal right now is to have a good week and jump a bunch in the FedEx points so I can play.

Q. How familiar are you in the point system and could you explain to it somebody if you had to?
STEVE MARINO: I'm not very familiar with it at all and no, I don't think I could explain it to somebody if they asked me some questions about it.

Q. You just know it's out there and it will take care of itself or do you genuine find it confusing?
STEVE MARINO: No. You know, I'm sure if I wanted to learn more about it I'd be able to grasp the notion of the FedExCup but, you know, I'm just here to play golf and, you know, the better you play, the more points you're going to get.
That's the mindset I have. If you're worried about where you stand and how many points you have, you know, I don't think that's going to have a positive influence on your game.

Q. Making this first circuit, how much of your time is spent trying to learn a golf course and where the birdies are, where you can go for it, where you have to back off?
STEVE MARINO: You know, I do a lot of thinking in my practice rounds about that. Usually I mean the par-5s are where you got to bear down and get your birdies.
Pretty much any golf course you've got to take advantage of the par-5s. They'll be the odd -- the par-3s are not birdie holes on any golf course. I'll take a 3 on any par 3 I'll ever play.
Then you got a couple par 4s every round where if you hit a good tee shot you'll have some wedges in your hand and you'd like to knock those close and make a putt for birdie but mostly the par-5s is where you got to get them.

Q. Do you think that's the case for all types of golfers? Do you think that's pretty much standard for golf that the par-5s are the birdie holes or par-3s are not?
STEVE MARINO: Are you talking about like an 18-handicapper or everybody in general?

Q. Yeah.
STEVE MARINO: Yeah. I think so. I think in some cases people who are, you know, maybe worse than an 18 handicap and can't really hit the ball that far, I think the par-3s are there best bet as long as there's no water because it's the shorter hole.
CHRIS REIMER: Taking us through the scorecard here starting with the 2nd hole.
STEVE MARINO: I hit a driver down the right side of the fairway and then I hit a 3-wood on the green about 10, 12 feet and made the putt for eagle.
CHRIS REIMER: Then 5.
STEVE MARINO: 5, I hit a 5 wood off the tee and then I hit a sand wedge in there about a foot. Nice little tap-in.
CHRIS REIMER: Bogey on 8.
STEVE MARINO: I 3-putted 8. I missed a 3-footer for par. Nine, I hit driver down the fairway, hit 3-iron left in the bunker, got up and down for birdie.
CHRIS REIMER: 13.
STEVE MARINO: 13 I actually drove it in the rough and had to lay up. Hit a pitching wedge in there about four feet, made the putt for birdie.
14, hit a drive down the fairway and pitching wedge about 12 feet and made the putt.
15, I hit a driver off the tee and a 3-iron into the middle of the green, 2-putted for a birdie, and 17 hit a 3-iron off the tee to about 12 feet and made the putt for birdie.
CHRIS REIMER: Any other questions for Steve guys? Alright. Good luck tomorrow.
STEVE MARINO: Thanks a lot.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297