What it was like to play alongside Tom Watson in the 2009 Open Championship

While Steve Marino’s PGA Tour resume doesn’t include a win, he came close several times during his best playing days, notching five runner-up finishes between 2008 and 2016. Marino reached a career-best world ranking of 54th in 2011, and while he’s had intentions of returning to competitive play in recent years, he’s currently sidelined while recovering from hernia surgery.

On this week’s episode of Subpar, Marino reflected on his Tour career and shared some fun stories, like playing against a teenage Daniel Berger, and a deep-dive on his airplane hijinks with Ernie Els.

Marino also told hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz about what it was like to be a part of golf history, playing alongside Tom Watson on Saturday of the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry, during Watson’s historic bid to become the oldest major winner ever at age 59.

“Man, that guy, he played so good,” Marino said. “Y’all talked about how I played that fade, and I drove it good and I drove it straight. But we had these holes with these crosswinds blowing, you know, 20-25 [mph] left to right, and I could not hit the fairway. I’m like a yard in the right rough on every hole because I gotta start it so far left. My ball’s coming in like, on a 45-degree angle coming into the fairway, and Tom Watson is stepping up there and just hitting these balls that are going dead straight, right down the middle, not even moving in this left-to-right wind.

“And I’m going, dude, what is going on here? And then I’m thinking, man, he must be hooking the hell out of it. So I can’t wait to see the right to left holes. We get to the right to left holes and it’s drawing like five yards and going, you know, about as far as I’m hitting it, and he was hitting it so good, just on the button. Wind wasn’t even touching the ball. And he putted unbelievably.”

In case you need a refresher, Watson led by one shot on Sunday heading into the final hole, but his approach to the green ended up just a touch too long. He failed to get it up and down, and ended up with a bogey, pushing him into a four-hole playoff with Stewart Cink, which Watson ultimately lost. The crowd, though, was indisputably on Watson’s side, which Marino says was obvious the whole weekend.

“I remember the crowds were so like, pro Tom Watson, you know, it was a pretty big deal and it was insane crowd,” Marino said. “‘Let’s go Tom,’ ‘come on, Tom,’ like the whole way, felt like millions of people were out there.

“I’m in the process of making like, dub on 16, on Saturday. I was in it ’til like 15, 16, I went like dub-dub or something,” Marino continued. “He’s got like a 40-footer for birdie and I’m standing on the green, you know, contemplating my eight-footer for like bogey or double or some s—. And he rolled this putt in and I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life. The noise was so loud, the roar of the crowd was so loud. It was deafening. And the green, I’m standing on the green, it’s shaking under my feet, going like this, and I was like, that’s some crazy stuff right there.

“I gave it my all, you know, it was hard. But it was pretty cool to watch that guy play that good at that age. It was pretty amazing.”

Marino ended up T38 at Turnberry after firing 76-75 on the weekend.

For more from Marino, including some entertaining caddie stories, check out the full episode below.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.