	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

THE BARCLAYS

August 29, 2009

Steve Marino

JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY

LAURA HILL: Thanks for joining us, a nice 68 to jump back into that lead, and three birdies coming in. You must feel pretty good going into the final round in that position.
STEVE MARINO: Yeah, I feel good. I got off to a slow start but at the same time I kept telling myself that pars are pretty good out here. It's a really tough golf course. I felt like I was playing well and knew if I just stayed patient and kept my head in the game that I would have some good birdie chances.

Q. Can you comment on Tiger saying the tees being moved up 350 yards shorter than it has been?
STEVE MARINO: I definitely didn't feel like I was playing off the ladies tees. They made it a little bit easier on us and I think they did that because I think they expected the worst with the weather, and we got real lucky that I guess it missed us. I don't know what happened. The forecast was not looking really good. But I think you can expect to see the tee boxes moved back tomorrow.

Q. You've held some leads overnight now, I think your lead at Disney seems like you might have been right up there and right in the mix after halfway at the British. Do you feel like the progression is coming along and you're about ready to drop a "W" on us?
STEVE MARINO: I mean, I think so. I felt like I was ready to win back then, too. It just didn't turn out that way. I just feel like I'm playing real well right now, and I'm going to go out there and do the best I can, and I think if I play well, I'll have a good chance to win the golf tournament.

Q. You're pretty high up there in the putting stats this week, and Tiger was telling us today about all of the double breakers, how difficult it was for him to read the greens. What's been the key to your good putting?
STEVE MARINO: The first two days, I putted real well. Today I didn't make as many putts as I did the first two days, but I hit the ball a lot better. I feel like I've just been reading them real well and just committing to the line. I got fooled at the end of the round today on 17 and 18, those were a couple misreads. But yeah, I don't know, I just felt real comfortable on the greens this week, which is nice.

Q. Tiger is five shots back going into the final round, will you find yourself looking over your shoulder a little bit more considering he's there?
STEVE MARINO: I don't think so. You know, I'm sure he's probably going to play pretty well tomorrow. He always seems to play well on Sundays. But I can't control what he does. I can only control what I do and I feel like if I play well, being five ahead of him, I shouldn't really have to worry about him if I play well.

Q. I know it's been a while, Steve, but when you reflect on the experience at the British Open, what affects you the most? What did you take out of that the most?
STEVE MARINO: Just the fact that I felt like I handled the pressure pretty well.
I felt pretty comfortable out there playing with Tom Watson in the final group of the British Open, there's always a chance for the nerves to really get ahold of you and things to go bad. But you know, I felt good. I didn't get off to the greatest start in the beginning of the round, but I hung in there and kind of made a comeback in the middle of the round. Obviously there was a disaster at the end.
But I felt comfortable and I felt like I belonged out there, and that's the main thing that I took away from that.

Q. There's a lot of discussion coming into this week about the golf course as a venue for a tournament. Now that you've had a chance to play it for several days, what do you like about it and what do you dislike about it?
STEVE MARINO: I like the fact that it's probably the best-conditioned golf course that we've played all year. I like the fact that it challenges every aspect of your game. You've got to drive the ball good, you've got to hit it in the fairway and if you're not hitting it in the fairway, then you're in a load of trouble and you've got to hit good iron shots.
The greens are pretty small and the targets especially are real small. So you've got to be just really accurate and then if you're not, it really challenges your short game, too.
So I think it's just a very, very stern test.

Q. I apologize for not looking this up. Do you remember the last time you won off the top of your head, can you just pretty much skip the whole Nationwide thing?
STEVE MARINO: I won the Gateway Tour Championship in 2006.

Q. What was the payday on that one?
STEVE MARINO: 60 grand. It was awesome. (Laughter).

Q. What were the circumstances? Were you leading, the same type of deal or did you shoot nothing the last day and take it?
STEVE MARINO: No, I actually shot 59 in the third round and I had like a seven-shot lead going into Sunday. So it was -- I ended up winning by like ten. It was awesome.

Q. When you get in situations like this when you're in contention, do you think back to what that felt like to put it away and kind of try to do the same things?
STEVE MARINO: Yeah, a little bit. I think the main thing is that you can't really change what you're doing just because you're leading the tournament or you're in the last group or you have a chance to win. You've just got to keep doing the same things that you've been doing that put yourself in that position.
If you start to change, it's like a basketball game where they have got a 25-point lead in the fourth quarter and they start playing not to lose instead of continuing to play the way they kept playing, that's when things start going bad, when you change it up, when you're not doing the same things that you were doing.
So I'm just going to go out there and just do the same exact things that I've been doing every day this week.

Q. Your coach told me one time, you don't blink at the guys you're paired with, it doesn't seem to matter who they are, you're pretty fearless for whatever reason. What do you attribute that to? Is that an inner confidence, or winning a lot of money games when you were a kid or why don't you shake in your boots a little bit more when you're playing with some of these guys with a little thicker resumÃ©, if you agree with that statement at all.
STEVE MARINO: Yeah, I mean, why would you, really. I mean, everybody is here to win the golf tournament. Just because you're playing with, you know, Tiger Woods or Paul Goydos, what difference does it make? You've got to go out there and you've got to play your own game and you've got to do your own thing, and it shouldn't matter who you're playing with or what golf course you're playing or how much money you're playing for. It's all the same. All those things are outside pressures that, you know, sometimes they do affect you, but if you think about it, why should they; because you are just trying to go out there and play golf the best that you can.
LAURA HILL: Good luck tomorrow. Thank you.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297