16 Years Later, Steve Marino Still Making A Living On PGA Tour
Posted on Saturday, Jul. 7, 2018, 5:00 pm by Jerry Ratcliffe
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WHITE SULFUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – Steve Marino is the seasoned warhorse of Virginia golf. No Cavalier golfer has remained on the professional level longer than Marino, who has been earning a living since 2002.
I remember writing a story on Marino once he earned his PGA Tour card 16 years ago. He was getting ready to make his debut at an event in Hawaii.I’ll never forget what he told me.
“I don’t want to be a one-and-done guy,” Marino said. “I don’t want to play for a year and then vanish. I want to be making a career out of golf.”
That’s exactly what Marino has done. Catching up with him at “A Military Tribute” at The Greenbrier’s Old White course this weekend, Marino made the cut but struggled in Saturday’s third round with a 3-over 73.
“I’ve been blessed,” Marino said about his lengthy career. “I’ve put some hard work into it. I never thought I’d be standing here talking to you at [age]38. It has been a good run.”
A native of Northern Virginia, Marino said he has no complaints about his career, but wishes he had manage to stay healthier. He has been plagued by back problems the last four or five years, and is coming off a back injury in 2017 that kept him bouncing back and forth between the PGA Tour andthe Web.com Tour, just as he has this year.
“It has been a rough go with all the injuries,” Marino said. “I played great early on in my career. Now I’m just trying to get back to where I was. It’s starting to turn around for me, I think. I just need to stay healthy and keep my back in check and keep playing tournaments.”
He started back this season with five “rehab” starts on the Web.com Tour and played well in those, then hit a bit of a slump over the net three events, and is now playing well again.
With well more than $10 million in career earnings, Marino entered Saturday at -5 with rounds of 67-68, but experienced a bit of a rollercoaster in the third round with two bogeys and a double (with one birdie) on the front, then a triple 7 on the par-4, 13th, followed by three birdies on the back nine for a 73.
The rough ride left him tied for 65th in the tournament with golfers still on the course when this piece was written.
The Old White was playing much harder on Saturday. Greens had firmed up and pin placements made it difficult to get the ball close to the hole on approach.
Marino is hoping for a strong finish in Sunday’s final round.
While there’s a bit of a gap between him and UVa’s other players in the pros, he’s always willing to be a sounding board for the younger players.
“I was playing in a Web.com tournament last week with [former Wahoo] Ben Kohles,” Marino said. “Ben’s starting to play really good again and that’s nice to see.”
While he hasn’t been back to Charlottesville in a while, he keeps up with UVa’s golf program from players like Kohles.
“Ben told me they’re redoing Birdwood, and that they’re building a new facility for UVa’s golf teams,” Marino said. “I wish we had that when I was there. I remember having to go into the pro shop and getting tokens for the range like everyone else.”
Meanwhile, the other former Cavalier in the Greenbrier event, Denny McCarthy, finished the day -1 and -4 heading into Sunday. That’s tied for 50th.
McCarthy carded two birdies on the front nine, then suffered back-to-back bogeys on the 10th and 11th, before sinking another birdie at No. 12. He parred the rest of the way in for a 67-70-69-206 standing. Marino is at 208.
“By the second or third hole today I could tell the greens were going to be a lot firmer,” McCarthy said. “It was a completely different course than it was the first two days.”
McCarthy was frustrated after his round. He felt as if he left at least three birdies on the course, barely missing putts on the back that could have improved his position.
The rookie believes he has played better each round at the Old White, but his scores haven’t reflected the effort.
“I’ve just got to keep doing the same thing,” McCarthy said. “I played pretty stress-free for the most part. I had a solid round of golf and made some nice par saves. When you hit shots in there 8 to 10-feet, you’ve got to make them out here. Most of the guys do. It’s disappointing I didn’t convert my birdie opportunities.”
It was particularly frustrating because McCarthy has been one of the better putters on Tour this year.
“I have to come out with a more aggressive mindset Sunday,” said the rookie, who has earned close to $400,000 this season. “I felt like I had almost every single shot today that was required of me. It’s tough to get the ball close with all the greens firming up. I can’t be made with the way I played.”
Because this is his first season on the PGA Tour, McCarthy is getting his first look at most every course he plays, such as here at The Greenbrier.
“I think I get better as I go along because I know more about the course each day,” McCarthy said. “You pick up on things you didn’t see in the practice round. It’s a learning process every single day and so I find ways to get better every single day.”
McCarthy is hoping to find the answers Sunday that he has been searching for to catapult himself up the Tour money list and pocket a tournament win in his first season.
