By Leonard Shapiro
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 4, 2008

Outside the gallery ropes, Evelyn Marino walked every step of the 18-hole journey yesterday while watching her grandson, Steve Marino, play in the first round of the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club. She recalled the time so many years ago when her late husband, Paul, cut down an old golf club so that 4-year-old Steve could whale away to his heart's content with his little 3-iron and a plastic ball in the back yard.

"He'd swing that club all day, and he loved it," she said. "Who would ever have thought that one day he'd be playing on the PGA Tour?"

After the first round of Tiger Woods's annual invitational event, think about this: Steve Marino, a 28-year-old who grew up in Fairfax, played college golf at Virginia and kicked around the mini-tour circuit for several years until he qualified for the PGA Tour in 2007, came in with bogey-free morning round of 5-under-par 65 and quickly jumped into the lead of a $6 million tournament staged near his home town.

With a new set of irons and wedges in his bag, an old friend caddying and several of his W.T. Woodson High School and college pals whooping and hollering encouragement from outside the gallery ropes, Marino picked the perfect venue to rediscover his golf game in a first round that attracted 17,000 spectators to the Bethesda course.

By the end of this day of searing sun and hot, gentle breezes, Marino's 65 stood up for a one-shot lead over four players, including 2001 Kemper Open champion Frank Lickliter II, on a Congressional Blue Course that drew almost universal praise. A year ago, some players complained that the rough was too tough for a regular tour event and the greens were too bumpy, bouncy and inconsistent. Yesterday, the grousing was almost nonexistent.

"The course is playing a little bit easier than last year," said Marino, who missed the cut in 2007. "The rough is probably half as tall as it was. This morning, there was very little wind and the greens were perfect."

Still, despite those seemingly ideal course conditions, only 34 players in the 120-man field managed to break par, among them 23-year-old rising American star Anthony Kim (3-under 67), Woods's former Stanford teammate Notah Begay III (67), defending champion K.J. Choi (68) and Olin Browne (69), who attended St. Albans. Several other prominent names struggled, including Masters champion Trevor Immelman (73) and U.S. Open runner-up Rocco Mediate (73).

Marino hasn't won yet on the PGA Tour and never has held a first-round lead, but he also has plenty of game, easily keeping his playing card as a rookie with four top 10 finishes and $1.18 million in earnings. He has another three top 10s this season and $1.09 million already in the bank. He's also savvy enough to realize that a first-round lead hardly translates into a trophy.

"I would say probably the majority of the time [first-round leaders] don't go on to win the tournament," Marino said. "You can't put any added pressure on yourself. You've just got to go out and try to keep doing what you've been doing. Then you keep yourself near that lead or in the lead, and the tournament really doesn't begin until the back nine Sunday, if you want to win."

Since a 10th-place finish at the Colonial in May, Marino has missed two cuts and tied for 62nd at the Travelers Championship two weeks ago. So he decided to make some significant changes coming into Congressional, a course he said he hardly played as a junior golfer.

"I haven't been hitting the ball that well and sometimes you just need to change a little bit, change what you're looking at," he said. "I was on the range on Tuesday hitting some shots with the new [irons] and some with the old ones and they seem to be doing much better. It was pretty much a no-brainer for me."

He also asked an old friend from his junior days, G.W. Cable, to carry his bag for the next few weeks to see if that might help. Cable, a fine player himself who went to Oakton High School, has been working at a golf course in Sarasota, Fla., lately but never hesitated when Marino asked him to take over the bag.

"He's been living down in Florida trying to play a bit, but he's been hurt," Marino said. "I wanted to change it up and try a new caddie, so I gave him a call. I figured it would get him out of the cart barn so he wouldn't have to wash carts for a couple of weeks and get him out here. It worked out real well."

As Marino made his way around the back nine, he was followed by about 75 spectators, including his grandmother (herself a former high school golf coach in Connecticut), his parents Steve Sr. and Fran, several members of Fairfax Country Club (where he grew up playing golf) and all those rowdy friends. Now that he's in the lead, many more likely will be there today for his 12:25 p.m. tee time.

"Yeah, I got some crazy friends that came out to watch me, and today, I think it's safe to say, it was probably going to be the mildest day, especially if I keep playing well," Marino said. "I know tomorrow is July 4, and I'm teeing off in the afternoon so that gives them plenty of time to get looped up. They are rowdy, but it definitely feels good to have them out there supporting me."

They had plenty to support early in Marino's round. With a 7:35 a.m. tee time, some of his boisterous buddies might even have been stuck in Beltway traffic while he made birdies on three of his first four holes. After a 295-yard drive, he hit a wedge to within 3 1/2 feet at the 402-yard opening hole and made that putt.

At the 455-yard No. 3, he had a two-footer after a 310-yard drive and another wedge from 135 yards, then made a 12-footer for birdie at the 427-yard No. 4 to get to 3 under in a hurry. His fourth birdie came at the 187-yard 13th, when he rolled in another 12-footer, and he finished with an eight-footer at the downhill, 466-yard 18th.

Marino also salvaged his score with three fine saves of par on the back nine, none better than at the 437-yard 17th, when his 3-wood off the tee went dead right into deep rough. But he hacked a second shot out of the tall grass into a back greenside bunker, then blasted to three feet and made the putt to stay bogey-free. On a day when he missed six fairways and five greens in regulation, he needed only 26 putts.

"When you've got a lot of people out there yelling and screaming, it kind of takes your mind off things and makes you a laugh a little bit," Marino said. "I can't wait to see what it's going to be like on July Fourth."