Second time at Sony much less stressful for Marino

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Steve Marino benefited from his experience playing with Michelle Wie in his first start on the PGA Tour two years ago.

HONOLULU -- Making your debut as a rookie on the PGA TOUR is a challenging task no matter what the circumstances.

That said, most players get to hit their first shots in relative anonymity. Not if your name is Steve Marino, though.

Inside the Numbers

Marino thru 36 Holes

Category Total Rank Eagles 0 N/A Birdies 11 T1 Pars 19 T119 Bogeys 6 T65 Double Bogeys 0 N/A Other 0 N/A Driving Accuracy 57.1% T29 Driving Distance 296.8 yds. 16 Greens in Regulation 66.7% T37 Putts per Round 27.5 T20 Putts per GIR 1.667 T12 Sand Saves 50.0% T54

Marino was paired with 17-year-old phenom Michelle Wie as a rookie at the 2007 Sony Open in Hawaii. But he did beat the teenage pro -- by 10 strokes, no less, with his 68 -- "and that's the main thing out here," Marino said, smiling.

So what if Wie, who had a multi-million dollar contract with Sony, couldn't produce the PlayStation 3 Marino coveted? He gained a ton of exposure and at the same time, he was exposed to things most rookies don't experience until later in their careers.

"I was kind of thrown into the lion's den playing with her," Marino acknowledged. "I think it was good for me to experience something like that right off the bat. It gave me some confidence to realize that I handled it well and I made the cut and I didn't get overwhelmed by the situation."

Marino has given himself a chance to do much more this year at Waialae. After finishing in a tie for fourth in 2008, the University of Virginia product is 5 under at the midway point of the $5.4 million event, just three strokes off the lead held by Nathan Green and Tom Pernice Jr.

Despite frequent swings in the weather -- and the wind -- Marino shot a solid 67 that closed with a string of three straight birdies. The first came on a 5-foot putt at the par-3 seventh. He followed with a 15-footer at No. 8 and two-putter from 12 feet on the last.

Marino is one of the TOUR's brightest young players, and he's improved with every season. He's still looking for his first victory, but Marino had six top-10s last year, including a solo second at the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun. He closed the season with a tie for third after holding the 54-hole lead at the Children's Miracle Network Classic presented by Walmart.

Marino has now shot under par in seven of the 10 rounds he's played at Waialae. He's just used some of the $3 million he's earned to buy a house in Tequesta, Fla., and he used to play a lot of mini-tour golf in the Sunshine State, so Marino is comfortable on these grasses and the blustery conditions.

"I knew it was going to be windy but I wasn't worried about it," Marino said. "Everybody was going to have to play through those winds, so I just came out here, and all I wanted to do was just be patient and just do the best that I could do. When it gets tough out there like that, if you're not on your game, you're going to shoot like 80.

"So I knew that anything could happen out there today. So I just wanted to go out and just stay patient and have fun and just do the best that I could. You can't control the weather, so you've just got to go with it."

Marino had better control of his driver on Friday, hitting 10 of those 14 narrow fairways, compared with just six in the opening round. He managed four more greens in regulation, as well, and needed just 29 putts.

"Once you're in the fairway, it makes this course play a lot easier," Marino said. "Once you get in the rough, you never know what you're going to get out there."

And his best shot Friday? Forget about those five birdies. That would be the chip he holed for par after muffing his bunker shot at the 17th hole, a 183-yard par 3 that was his seventh of the day.

"It was playing so tough out there," Marino said. "I felt like I was playing pretty good, and I wasn't really getting much out of my round.

"I hit a poor tee shot on 17, and hit a decent bunker shot. It just didn't carry far enough, and you know when it lands in that Bermuda, it just stops, and there's no chance of it bouncing out. I was right on the edge of the rough from the fringe and I chipped in for par, so I think that was a huge momentum saver for my round."