The The 2008 US Open is a moment which is forever rooted in the tradition of golf. For Tiger Woods, it was arguably the most iconic victory of his legendary golf career, and for Rocco Mediate, it became something that could have been.
Playing on a leg with two stress fractures in his tibia and a knee that had just been removed after arthroscopic surgery, Woods gritted his teeth and marched to a 54-hole lead at Torrey Pines. However, he opened his final round with a double bogey in the first and a bogey in the second, falling behind Mediate. Woods made birdies on 9 and 11 to move to the top, but bogeys on 13 and 15 dropped him behind Mediate, who finished 1 under par for the tournament. Woods parred 16 and 17 and needed a bride on the par 5 and 18 to force a playoff.
Woods hit his tee shot into a fairway bunker and then made a poor layup that left him 96 yards short of the green in the right rough. Mediate, who was watching play in the scorer’s tent, knew Woods would make the putt himself, but thought it would be difficult for Woods to keep the ball close to the pin coming from the rough.
Woods took a powerful 60-degree wedge shot and the ball landed just above the pin and spun, giving him a 10-footer for birdie. Woods drained that opportunity to force an 18-hole playoff the following Monday, which he won on the first extra hole.
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Mediate has joined GOLF’s Subpar podcast discuss your PGA Tour career, advice he received from Arnold Palmer and his iconic duel with Woods at Torrey Pines. Mediate expected Woods to go within 10 feet on the 72nd hole, but it was his approach to the game after coming out of a bad spot that he had to ask the 15-time major winner when they later crossed paths.
“Tiger hits, which didn’t surprise me,” Mediate told hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz. “But a year later I asked him. I have only spoken to him twice since then. I said, “Okay, tell me about the 18 shot.” I said, “You have to tell me.” You can’t stop this ball. Like he looked down and said, “It was in the old divot.” I said, “Of course I do!” It’s crazy! It’s Kikuyu. So it was in the old divot and he could get the club on it. If it wasn’t, he might have found a way to get it in there. He’s the best player of all time.
“But when you see the shot, it hit and I saw it land and I was like, uh-oh. Then it caught on and I thought, what was that all about? How did it happen? And of course he will handle the rest.”
You can listen full Subpar podcast hereor watch the video below on YouTube.
