It’s getting tougher and tougher to watch Steve Marino play golf on Sundays. The W.T. Woodson graduate has become a fixture on PGA Tour leader boards and has been in first place in the final round already twice in the last six weeks, but he’s still looking for his first victory.
There’s little doubt about Marino’s prowess. In less than five years on the tour, Marino, 31, has collected $8.4 million. But he is fast picking up the dubious distinction as golf’s best player without a win.
Recommended Stories
The beat went on Sunday in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where Marino led by three strokes with eight holes to play but was undone by a combination of bad luck and balky nerves.
On the 15th and 17th holes, Marino hit approaches into bunkers and ended up with dreaded “fried-egg” lies, the ball buried in sand. A bogey and a double-bogey from those bunkers allowed Martin Laird to win on a day he shot 75 in the final round.
“I’ve felt that way for a long time, that my game was good enough to win out here,” Marino told reporters. “I felt like that last year. I felt like that the year before.”
Like Phil Mickelson, Marino is one of the longest hitters on tour and a thrill-seeking gambler on the course. The difference is Marino’s antsy putting stroke.
Sunday marked the fourth runner-up finish for Marino and 11th time since 2008 that he has placed in the top five. His most celebrated collapse came at the British Open in 2009, when he shot 67-68 and had a five-stroke lead in the third round before closing with 76-75 and a 38th-place finish.
