What they said: Steve Marino

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MORE INTERVIEWS: Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial transcript archive

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Steve Marino, thanks for joining us here, a third-round 62 here at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Best career round on the PGA TOUR and puts you right in the hunt heading into Sunday's final round. You are 15-under and still some players out there. You got to like your position heading into Sunday.

STEVE MARINO: Absolutely. I thought I played pretty well the first two days. I'm looking up at the leaderboard and I'm 7 shots back and I am kind of scratching my head thinking what's going on. I got hot today and made some nice putts and played great and all of a sudden I'm right up there. Hopefully if nobody runs away the last couple of holes I would have a pretty good chance to win tomorrow.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Let's get the questions about your pink shirt right out of the way, I know that's going to get asked, I've hear you've never wore pink before on the golf course. Maybe a couple comments about that.

STEVE MARINO: Yes, I'm not really a pink shirt kind of guy. I don't wear pink shirts. I don't wear pink pants. I don't wear pink anything really, maybe I should start.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Questions.

Q. Is this the first time you wore pink, you don't like the color?

STEVE MARINO: Yes, I mean I don't really remember ever wearing pink before.

Q. Steve I understand your mother is from Fort Worth and a Pasqual graduate, talk about that family tie to the tournament?

STEVE MARINO: Yes, it's awesome. She grew up here and went to Pasqual High School. When I got on the TOUR she was so excited that I was coming to play in the Colonial because she used to come watch it when she was growing up. It's a pretty special event for me. It makes me feel real good to be able to not only come play in this tournament but this year maybe have a chance to win tomorrow.

Q. Did she offer advice from outside the ropes during your round?

STEVE MARINO: No, no, she is more a nervous wreck out there, she tried to stay away from me.

Q. How big was the mob today, your rooting group, and I guess your dad is here, isn't he?

STEVE MARINO: Yes, it was pretty big. To be honest with you I wasn't really paying attention much. We were up there in one of the last groups of the tournament and I know my mom and a bunch of her friends from high school were out there, so we had a pretty big gathering.

Q. Was this round anywhere near as good as your 59? I'm wondering, can you just go on what it's like when you get really low like that?

STEVE MARINO: Right. It was similar but, no, it wasn't as good. The 59 I shot was on a par 72, it was 13-under. I don't know if I will ever play like that ever again. But this is one of the lowest scores I've every shot out here. It was a great round. I just felt really in control of everything out there. It was a great feeling.

Q. Steve, could you talk about that stretch, 11, 12, 13, a pretty good stretch on some pretty good holes?

STEVE MARINO: Yes, I hit a wedge in there like two and a half feet on 11. Another wedge into 12 about four feet. 13, I hit it like six inches. So those were pretty stress-free birdies. I was playing good and I was 3-under and then all of a sudden you hit 3 good shots like that, and you really don't have to putt and it jumps you to 6-under. It was huge momentum-wise for me.

Q. Also the drive at 18 where you took a ride down the cart path?

STEVE MARINO: That was a good break. It ended up on the cart path, I got to take a free drop. It was perfect over there. I just hit a sand wedge in, hit a good shot on the green and made like a nice 15, 20-foot putt.

Q. Steve, you talked about coming out of first two rounds playing well, but still being 7 strokes behind, how did you keep from that wearing on? Obviously you were playing well.

STEVE MARINO: Right. There is nothing you can really do about that. Sometimes guys are just going to go crazy out there. 63, 63 on the start, that's pretty impressive back-to-back. So you just got to go out there and do the best you can and hope that they just don't continue to keep going crazy every day. If he is going to do that every day, he will win the tournament by 10 shots. You can't really think about that. What other people are doing, or what they might possibly do, you just need to worry about yourself.

Q. Steve, could you talk about the pink out, there was a large number of players that did take part in that today.

STEVE MARINO: Yes, we did it for Amy Mickelson, and I think it's pretty cool almost every player I saw had a pink shirt on today or pink pants. All of the guys that are working the tournament here, the Colonial people are all wearing pink, and a lot of people in the galleries are wearing pink, and even some of you guys in the pressroom. So I think it's a really cool thing. We all miss Phil this week, he is the defending champion, he's a huge draw, but he has more important things to worry about, and we all wish him, Amy and their family well.

Q. Does the strategy change at all tomorrow, obviously I'm guessing scores will still below, any changes now that you are up near the top?

STEVE MARINO: No, I'm just going to keep trying to continue to play the way I've been playing. I've been hitting driver a lot out here where a lot of guys aren't. I think this course kind of suits me in that regard because my driver is probably the best club in my bag, I hit it pretty straight. I can get it further down on some of the holes where guys are laying back and really take advantage.

Q. With so many guys packed, do you go out in attack mode tomorrow, bag as many birdies as possible and see where it takes you? What's your strategy for tomorrow?

STEVE MARINO: To be honest with you, I really don't have one. I'm just going to go out there and play the way I've been playing. I like this golf course. I seem to know what I'm doing out here. I find myself walking up to the tees and not even pulling the yardage book out to see what's going on. I just feel like I know what I'm doing out here, so I'm just going to go play.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Steve Marino, good luck tomorrow.

STEVE MARINO: Thanks a lot.

Transcript courtesy of sportstranscripts.com.