newbieboy
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FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- Rocco Mediate arrived at Bethpage Black's driving range Tuesday moments after Tiger Woods left, settling in one spot away from where the reigning U.S. Open champion practiced.
Talk about fitting.
Mediate will forever be remembered as being right beside Woods at the 2008 U.S. Open, where not even a mano-a-mano 18-hole Monday playoff was enough to break their tie and the world's No. 1 player ultimately prevailed on the 91st hole.
"The greatest memory of my golfing career," Mediate said.
He has relived that memory every day since. The 46-year-old Pennsylvanian gave Woods all he wanted at Torrey Pines, succumbing only to a combination of Tiger moments -- like the birdie putt on the 72nd hole that left Woods thrusting fists in the air, then another birdie on the 18th hole Monday to extend the playoff.
He never performed better with club in hand than in that glorious week last summer. When this year's Open starts Thursday on Long Island, Mediate will enter a major championship carrying the burden of expectation for the first time.
"I know what it's going to be like and I'm ready," Mediate said. "I love that stuff. It's not going to be like a shock to me. I think it's going to be loud and it's going to be a lot of fun. And if I'm playing good, it's going to be ridiculously fun. So there's a little extra heat on me. I like that feeling."
Sure seems like that's the case.
Mediate started getting a full appreciation of what it meant months later, when a Texas man who lost his daughter in a car crash shortly before last year's U.S. Open sent him a letter and explained his family's plight. The man, John Ray, had never heard of Mediate before that week at Torrey Pines, yet found himself rooting for the underdog.
"You showed me that it is possible to lose and yet not be beaten," Ray wrote.
To Mediate, that meant as much, if not more, than the gargantuan silver cup he would have hoisted if he had taken Woods down.
"He got something from that," Mediate said. "I think that was cool."
His Q-rating has soared in the past 12 months. He's no longer anonymous in restaurants and coffee shops, even among people who've never picked up a golf club.
The people's champion, indeed.
So where would it be more fitting than a public course like Bethpage Black for Mediate, who wears the blue-collar label as well as any pro golfer, to win a major? He knows there will be no shortage of people behind the ropes and in the stands just waiting to bellow "Rocco!" whenever he hits one close, just as they did at Torrey Pines.
"Maybe I can do one better this year," Mediate said.
He was at Bethpage's practice area for about three hours Tuesday, spending probably no more than 45 minutes hitting balls. He held his wedge like a baseball bat for a few moments. He would talk before chipping, after chipping and, in many cases, while chipping. He engaged a few fans, shook hands with friends, checked a couple text messages.
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CGB MAX Irons
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