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Tuesday, June 17, 2008 1:10:46 PM
Tiger survives Rocco
World's top player needs 18-hole playoff, plus extra hole, to overcome an improbable challenge from Greensburg's Mediate
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Chris Carlson/Associated Press
Rocco Mediate, left, jokes with Tiger Woods after Woods' victory yesterday.
Rocco Mediate has spent a large portion of his 23 years on the PGA Tour making comebacks, first from back surgery in 1994, and then from recurring hip and back problems that forced him to seek medical exemptions to retain his playing privileges. The 12th-ranked player in the world in 2003, he even had to use a one-time exemption as a top 50 career money winner to keep his PGA Tour playing card.
None of those comebacks compared to the one he nearly pulled off yesterday -- having a chance to win the 108th U.S. Open championship after being three shots down to Tiger Woods with eight holes remaining.
"I've been beaten down a few times and I've never quit," Mediate said. "I got what I wanted -- I had a chance to beat the best player in the world. I think I had him scared a little bit."
It took an 18-hole playoff and one extra hole beyond that, but Mediate, a Greensburg native who lives in Naples, Fla., eventually came up one putt short of one of the greatest upsets in golf history.
Holding a one-shot lead on the final hole, he missed a 20-foot birdie putt at No. 18 that would have given him his first major championship and instead watched Woods go on to win his 14th major and third U.S. Open on the 19th hole of the day at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego.
"I threw everything I had at him ... everything I had," Mediate said. "He had to birdie the last hole to stay in it again and he did it. He's remarkable."
Mediate was trying to become the fourth player from Western Pennsylvania to win the tournament, joining South Hills Country Club pro Sam Parks, who won the Open in 1935 at Oakmont; Oakmont professional Lew Worsham, who won the 1947 Open at St. Louis Country Club, and his idol, Arnold Palmer, in 1960.
Had he been able to defeat Woods, Mediate, 45, who hasn't won a PGA Tour event since the 2002 Greater Greensboro Open, would have been the oldest champion in U.S. Open history.
Despite hitting only three of the first 10 greens in regulation, Woods seemed in control of the playoff when he took a three-shot lead after Mediate bogeyed No. 10. But back-to-back bogeys by Woods at Nos. 11 and 12 narrowed the margin to one and a 3-foot birdie by Mediate at the 269-yard 14th left the players tied.
Mediate made a 35-foot birdie at the par-4 15th -- his third in a row -- to take a one-shot lead.
"I thought I was going to win after that putt went in on 15," he said. "I said, if I can keep hitting good shot after good shot, which I pretty much did, I'm going to win this golf tournament."
However, as he did Sunday when he made a 12-foot birdie at the final hole to force a playoff, Woods birdied the par-5 18th to extend the playoff and change the format to sudden death.
Mediate parred the 18th after laying up from a sand trap, missing a 20-footer for birdie that would have won.
On the first hole of sudden death, Woods two-putted from 20 feet for par to beat Mediate, who bogeyed after hitting his tee shot into a fairway bunker and yanking his second shot off the greenside grandstand.
"It wasn't a walk in the park," Mediate said. "I didn't want it to be a walk in the park. It could have been. He's got me by 14 years. He's got me by 1,000 yards off the tee. And I kept hanging in there, hanging in there."
Mediate had to go through a 36-hole sectional qualifier in Columbus, Ohio, to enter the U.S. Open, gaining one of the final qualifying spots with a birdie on the first hole of an 11-man playoff.
Mediate is one of just 36 active players with five or more career victories -- three of which came in tournaments with Woods in the field.
"He forced Tiger's hand, and I haven't seen anyone else do that in a long time," said Rick Smith, Mediate's longtime swing coach and an Upper St. Clair native who has also worked with Phil Mickelson. "Nobody gives him that kind of trouble. Under those conditions? It was a real tribute to Roc. The way he held up was phenomenal."
Mediate's playoff showdown with Woods -- and his run of three consecutive birdies to erase his three-shot deficit -- had most of the golf world riveted to the TV broadcast and nearly stunned at the possibility Woods might lose a major tournament after holding the 54-hole lead, something that has never been done before.
The tension was even greater in Western Pennsylvania, where Mediate's family and friends appeared to hang on every putt.
"It was wonderful to watch," said his uncle, Joe Mediate of North Huntington. "I was so excited the whole day. I guarantee you one thing -- that's the toughest tournament Tiger had to win. Roc played really well. I was proud of him."
"It would have been fabulous, incredible, if he had won," said Oakmont professional Bob Ford, whose club played host to last year's U.S. Open, a tournament in which Mediate did not compete. "That was pretty good stuff. That was maybe the best Open I ever remember watching."
Tom Tanto, who owns Totteridge Golf Club in Greensburg, where Mediate is a minority investor, returned home from a trip overseas just in time to watch the playoff.
"It looked like he was going to do it," Tanto said. "People were rooting for him because he was loose and talking to everybody and people appreciated that."
Before the playoff -- the first at the U.S. Open since Retief Goosen beat Mark Brooks in 2001 at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla. -- Palmer offered some encouraging words for Mediate, telling him not to give up merely because he was facing Woods, the world's No. 1 player who came into the U.S. Open with 64 career victories.
Palmer, 78, cited the 1955 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco when Jack Fleck, an unknown driving-range operator from Bettendorf, Iowa, beat the great Ben Hogan in an 18-hole playoff in what is still considered the greatest upset in golf history. It was Fleck's first professional victory.
"I remember it very well," Palmer said. "[Fleck] didn't have a chance in the world. But it can happen. And Rocco is playing well enough to win."
Palmer, though, wasn't able to watch much, if any, of the playoff because he was traveling to New York to attend a sports charity dinner that benefits the Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital in Orlando. But he watched the final round on Sunday and thought Mediate missed a great opportunity to win his first major championship.
So did Mediate, who was the only player in the field to never be over par during the 72 holes of regulation.
"You know, playing against him, especially head up like this, it's going to be a hard battle," Mediate said. "He's not going to go away. If anybody in this world goes up against Tiger when he's at his best, they are going to lose, it's just that simple. I don't care who it is."
Gerry Dulac can be reached at gdulac@post-gazette.com.
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World's top player needs 18-hole playoff, plus extra hole, to overcome an improbable challenge from Greensburg's Mediate
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Chris Carlson/Associated Press
Rocco Mediate, left, jokes with Tiger Woods after Woods' victory yesterday.
Rocco Mediate has spent a large portion of his 23 years on the PGA Tour making comebacks, first from back surgery in 1994, and then from recurring hip and back problems that forced him to seek medical exemptions to retain his playing privileges. The 12th-ranked player in the world in 2003, he even had to use a one-time exemption as a top 50 career money winner to keep his PGA Tour playing card.
None of those comebacks compared to the one he nearly pulled off yesterday -- having a chance to win the 108th U.S. Open championship after being three shots down to Tiger Woods with eight holes remaining.
"I've been beaten down a few times and I've never quit," Mediate said. "I got what I wanted -- I had a chance to beat the best player in the world. I think I had him scared a little bit."
It took an 18-hole playoff and one extra hole beyond that, but Mediate, a Greensburg native who lives in Naples, Fla., eventually came up one putt short of one of the greatest upsets in golf history.
Holding a one-shot lead on the final hole, he missed a 20-foot birdie putt at No. 18 that would have given him his first major championship and instead watched Woods go on to win his 14th major and third U.S. Open on the 19th hole of the day at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego.
"I threw everything I had at him ... everything I had," Mediate said. "He had to birdie the last hole to stay in it again and he did it. He's remarkable."
Mediate was trying to become the fourth player from Western Pennsylvania to win the tournament, joining South Hills Country Club pro Sam Parks, who won the Open in 1935 at Oakmont; Oakmont professional Lew Worsham, who won the 1947 Open at St. Louis Country Club, and his idol, Arnold Palmer, in 1960.
Had he been able to defeat Woods, Mediate, 45, who hasn't won a PGA Tour event since the 2002 Greater Greensboro Open, would have been the oldest champion in U.S. Open history.
Despite hitting only three of the first 10 greens in regulation, Woods seemed in control of the playoff when he took a three-shot lead after Mediate bogeyed No. 10. But back-to-back bogeys by Woods at Nos. 11 and 12 narrowed the margin to one and a 3-foot birdie by Mediate at the 269-yard 14th left the players tied.
Mediate made a 35-foot birdie at the par-4 15th -- his third in a row -- to take a one-shot lead.
"I thought I was going to win after that putt went in on 15," he said. "I said, if I can keep hitting good shot after good shot, which I pretty much did, I'm going to win this golf tournament."
However, as he did Sunday when he made a 12-foot birdie at the final hole to force a playoff, Woods birdied the par-5 18th to extend the playoff and change the format to sudden death.
Mediate parred the 18th after laying up from a sand trap, missing a 20-footer for birdie that would have won.
On the first hole of sudden death, Woods two-putted from 20 feet for par to beat Mediate, who bogeyed after hitting his tee shot into a fairway bunker and yanking his second shot off the greenside grandstand.
"It wasn't a walk in the park," Mediate said. "I didn't want it to be a walk in the park. It could have been. He's got me by 14 years. He's got me by 1,000 yards off the tee. And I kept hanging in there, hanging in there."
Mediate had to go through a 36-hole sectional qualifier in Columbus, Ohio, to enter the U.S. Open, gaining one of the final qualifying spots with a birdie on the first hole of an 11-man playoff.
Mediate is one of just 36 active players with five or more career victories -- three of which came in tournaments with Woods in the field.
"He forced Tiger's hand, and I haven't seen anyone else do that in a long time," said Rick Smith, Mediate's longtime swing coach and an Upper St. Clair native who has also worked with Phil Mickelson. "Nobody gives him that kind of trouble. Under those conditions? It was a real tribute to Roc. The way he held up was phenomenal."
Mediate's playoff showdown with Woods -- and his run of three consecutive birdies to erase his three-shot deficit -- had most of the golf world riveted to the TV broadcast and nearly stunned at the possibility Woods might lose a major tournament after holding the 54-hole lead, something that has never been done before.
The tension was even greater in Western Pennsylvania, where Mediate's family and friends appeared to hang on every putt.
"It was wonderful to watch," said his uncle, Joe Mediate of North Huntington. "I was so excited the whole day. I guarantee you one thing -- that's the toughest tournament Tiger had to win. Roc played really well. I was proud of him."
"It would have been fabulous, incredible, if he had won," said Oakmont professional Bob Ford, whose club played host to last year's U.S. Open, a tournament in which Mediate did not compete. "That was pretty good stuff. That was maybe the best Open I ever remember watching."
Tom Tanto, who owns Totteridge Golf Club in Greensburg, where Mediate is a minority investor, returned home from a trip overseas just in time to watch the playoff.
"It looked like he was going to do it," Tanto said. "People were rooting for him because he was loose and talking to everybody and people appreciated that."
Before the playoff -- the first at the U.S. Open since Retief Goosen beat Mark Brooks in 2001 at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla. -- Palmer offered some encouraging words for Mediate, telling him not to give up merely because he was facing Woods, the world's No. 1 player who came into the U.S. Open with 64 career victories.
Palmer, 78, cited the 1955 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco when Jack Fleck, an unknown driving-range operator from Bettendorf, Iowa, beat the great Ben Hogan in an 18-hole playoff in what is still considered the greatest upset in golf history. It was Fleck's first professional victory.
"I remember it very well," Palmer said. "[Fleck] didn't have a chance in the world. But it can happen. And Rocco is playing well enough to win."
Palmer, though, wasn't able to watch much, if any, of the playoff because he was traveling to New York to attend a sports charity dinner that benefits the Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital in Orlando. But he watched the final round on Sunday and thought Mediate missed a great opportunity to win his first major championship.
So did Mediate, who was the only player in the field to never be over par during the 72 holes of regulation.
"You know, playing against him, especially head up like this, it's going to be a hard battle," Mediate said. "He's not going to go away. If anybody in this world goes up against Tiger when he's at his best, they are going to lose, it's just that simple. I don't care who it is."
Gerry Dulac can be reached at gdulac@post-gazette.com.
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