2003 mercury 150 salt water, hard to start, stator??

[321lawncare]

hi i have a problem motor is hard to start cold have to choke it and give it throttle, when running it runs awesome, no missing nothing, once up to running temp it will start up right after i turn it off, one more time start rite back up 3rd time nothing just turnes over this is all within seconds, let it sit 15 mins and give it some throttle and choke it will start back up eventually , is this a stator issue, coil ? the bulb is hard at all times i dont think its loosing prime>?