It happened a generation ago, but Rocco Mediate is still asked about it almost daily.
We’re referring, of course, to the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines when Mediate took icon Tiger Woods to 91 holes before finally losing on the first sudden-death playoff hole. Woods got his third national title and 14th major, but Mediate earned more fans that week than he had in 23 years as a golf pro.
When asked how often someone will remind him of the ‘08 U.S. Open, Mediate flashes his ever-present smile.
“If I'm away from my home or at the golf course, every day. I kid you not,” Mediate said. “And here's the question I get: ‘Is it okay that we talk about it?’ I’m like, ‘Talk about all you want!’
“The only thing I didn't do was get the trophy. Otherwise, it was so much fun. The most disheartening thing was when I missed a 15-footer to tie on the first (sudden-death) playoff hole, I was so sad because I wanted to keep playing.”
Mediate finally got his major title 10 years ago when he won the Senior PGA Championship by three shots over Colin Montgomerie – another player who had his share of close calls in majors. Mediate returns to the Senior PGA this week at The Concession Golf Club, the year’s first major on the PGA Tour Champions.
Mediate won his lone senior major with a torrid start and a clutch finish. He opened with a course-record-tying 62 at Harbor Shores, then holed a bunker shot at the 71st hole to clinch the title.
“I was playing with Kenny Perry in the first round, and he had the course record of 62,” Mediate said. “I go, ‘Kenny, how in the hell did you shoot 62 around here? And he goes, ‘Well, you know, I just made everything.’ I’m thinking that's impossible. Well, I ended up shooting the 62 and Kenny goes, ‘Well, that's how you do that.’”
Mediate won five PGA TOUR titles and a half-dozen PGA TOUR Champions events, but it was the 2016 Senior PGA that remains one of his proudest moments.
“It was my most special Champions Tour event, for sure,” he said. “This one is in the top of all of them, the Senior PGA, because it's our oldest championship. And the names on the trophy are ridiculous, and I'm one of them, which is even more ridiculous.”
Mediate was 6 when Jack Nicklaus gave England’s Tony Jacklin a short putt at the 1969 Ryder Cup at St. Andrews instead of making him possibly lose the matches in front of the European fans (the U.S. already had retained the Cup with a tie). The Concession’s original owner, Keith Daves, asked Nicklaus and Jacklin if they would co-design his course to commemorate the occasion and they both, in essence, said, “That’s good.”
“I like the whole concept, the concession with Jack and Tony, and all the insanity that caused,” Mediate said. “How dare you give him a 4-footer? I’d do that in the Ryder Cup. Now, they think it's so important that it matters. What Jack did showed class. And I love they named this golf course after it.”
Mediate is happy the PGA of America returned the Senior PGA to Florida for the first time since 2000, when it ended an 18-year run at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens. The Concession, which will host the championship the next three years, is 65 miles away from where Mediate attended Florida Southern in Lakeland in the early 1980s.
Among Mediate’s teammates were two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen (also playing this week) and Marco Dawson. Mediate credits ex-Mocs golf coach Charley Matlock for his career that has earned him almost $25 million and the affection of fans who live to scream out his actual first name. He got more than an education out of Florida Southern.
“Just getting able to practice and play all year, you know, being from Pennsylvania, we didn't have all year,” Mediate said. “I got better quick. Coach Matlock helped me a lot. If I wouldn't have went to that school, we probably wouldn't be talking, because I wouldn't have made it (as a pro).”
Mediate made his mark in professional golf outside of those magical weeks in 2008 and 2016. In 1991, he became the first player to win a PGA Tour event with a long putter (at Doral). And he has won Tour-sanctioned events in his 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s.
“That means a lot,” he said of winning in five decades. “You can understand when (Bernhard) Langer says that, or (Lee) Trevino, or any great player. But when I won in five different decades, I always said, it gives everybody hope.”
Mediate isn’t expecting to lift the Alfred S. Bourne trophy again this week. He’s 63 has won once in the last nine years. And this week’s field will be even stronger with newcomers such as Zach Johnson, Henrik Stenson, Pat Perez and Rory Sabbatini.
“Think about Henrik,” Mediate said of the former British Open champion who went to LIV Golf. “Why can't he just stay home? These guys are awesome, plus they're great guys. Henrik’s one of my favorites. These guys are still killers, and they hit it four miles. It's just getting harder and harder every year, like it always has on any tour.”
