By John Feinstein
About a month before the just-completed U.S. Open, Mike Davis, the outgoing CEO of the USGA, called Rocco Mediate to invite him to be a guest of the governing body at Torrey Pines. After all, the 2008 Open, played at the same golf course, had been the site of Mediate’s most famous moment—if not his most joyful.

“He told me that he really appreciated the invitation, but it would be a little too tough for him to be there just to watch,” Davis said. “He said he’d be watching at home and appreciated being invited. I understood completely.”

There’s no doubt that if Mediate had been invited to play, he would have jumped at the chance. After all, he last played in a U.S. Open in 2010 and no doubt would have enjoyed hearing the cheers that would have followed him around the golf course. But watch other guys play? Be subjected to a barrage of questions about his 19-hole playoff loss to Tiger Woods some 13 years ago—again? No thanks.

I wrote a book about Mediate’s experience at that Open, so, needless to say, we spent a LOT of time together in the six months following that championship. It was Rocco who gave the book it’s title—sort of. He suggested, “Are you Blanking Kidding Me?” That was the title minus the Blanking. I liked his version better because it fit.

Even though we hadn’t talked for several years, I tried to call Rocco over the weekend, figuring (forgive my ego) he might be willing to talk to me. I was wrong. He never called back.

Honestly, I don’t blame him. When you look back on a career—in any sport—and realize you had one real chance to become part of the pantheon and it didn’t happen for you, regardless of the reason, it has to hurt. It’s one of those things where the pain may become more distant, but it never goes away.

I thought about that briefly on Sunday when seeing the look on Louis Oosthuizen’s face after he had finished second in a major for the sixth time. A moment before he holed his final, but meaningless, birdie putt on Torrey Pines’ 18th hole, NBC’s Dan Hicks commented that only two active players had more second-place finishes in majors than Oosthuizen: Phil Mickelson with 11 (including six at the U.S. Open) and Tiger Woods with seven. Of course, Mickelson won six majors and Woods won 15, so that has to dull the pain of those runner-up finishes considerably (Mickelson’s Winged Foot meltdown in 2006 aside, perhaps). There’s also Jack Nicklaus who had 19 second-place finishes. The 18 major wins no doubt dulled that pain considerably.

At least though, Oosthuizen does have one—his memorable performance in 2010 at the Open Championship at St. Andrews when he won by seven shots. One is a LOT more than none. It holds off many critics in the ongoing debate about Oosthuizen’s legacy in majors. As Sunday’s disappointment of another loss morphed into Monday’s reality, the sting just isn’t the same. We can empathise for the 38-year-old South African, but know there isn’t the same void that lingers with others.

“If I win, the rest of my life, I’m introduced as, ‘U.S. Open champion Mike Donald,’ not just as ‘a former PGA Tour pro,’ Mike Donald once said to me, referencing his near-miss at Medinah in the 1990 U.S. Open.

Donald led for almost the entire weekend but was caught by Hale Irwin when Irwin holed a 45-foot birdie putt on 18 and Donald bogeyed 17 not long after, putting the two of them into a Monday playoff. Donald led almost the entirety of the extra 18 holes until making bogey on the last 18—his par putt coming up about two inches short. He then lost on the first hole of sudden death to an Irwin birdie.

It was Irwin’s third U.S. Open victory. Chances are he would still be in the Hall of Fame if Donald had denied him that third title.

(Getty Images) After losing to Hale Irwin in a playoff at the 1990 U.S. Open, Mike Donald looks on at the trophy presentation.

It’s worth noting that neither Mediate nor Donald was really the same player after their near moments of glory. Mediate never again finished in the top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings after 2008, though he did somehow pull it together late in 2010 to win the Fry.com Open, going wire-to-wire. That came at the end of a year in which he started 25 times but missed 13 cuts and had two WDs. The out-of-nowhere victory kept him exempt until he reached the 50-and-older tour in 2013, where he promptly won his first start. He went on to win the 2016 Senior PGA and has been a solid player on the PGA Tour Champions.

It was worse for Donald. His play nose-dived after Medinah. He lost his exempt status after 1993 and never got it back. He made it through qualifying for the ’93 Open, which would turn out to be the last of the 16 majors he played in. I remember standing with him in the locker room at Baltustrol prior to the start of that Open. The USGA was playing past Opens on an endless loop on the locker room TVs and, as luck would have it, the ’90 Open was on at that moment.

Tom Watson walked over and glanced at Donald, who was staring at himself standing over the 15-foot putt in the playoff that would have made him an Open champion. “How does it make you feel to watch this again?” he finally asked—as the putt came up just short—again.

“Good,” Donald answer. “Because it reminds me that once upon a time I was a pretty good player.”

You have to be better than pretty good to come that close to winning a major. The saddest case may be Doug Sanders, who missed a 3½-foot putt on the 18th green at St. Andrews in 1970, to cost himself the major title that would have made him a lock Hall-of-Famer. Sanders won 20 times in all. Make that number 21 with a major and he would have to have been in the Hall.

Doug Sanders short miss on the final hole during the 1970 Open Championship cost him a win in regulation.

Instead, I still remember him standing outside the ropes by the clubhouse at Augusta National several years back, trying to get someone’s attention so he could get inside the ropes and stand under the famous tree with the luminaries and non-luminaries who gather there every April. Had Sanders been a Hall-of-Fame member is there any way he would have been denied that access?

It reminded me a little bit of Jay Haas, another superb player who never won a major. Haas never came as agonizingly close as Sanders or Donald or Mediate, but he did have eight top-five finishes in majors, including a T-3 in 1995 at the Masters.

I remember Haas and his best friend Curtis Strange sitting in the locker room a few years later before the tournament began. “You know something Curtis, we need to get a move on here,” Haas said. “If we don’t win this thing soon, there’s going to come a time when we aren’t going to be able to come back here anymore.”

Neither man ever won the Masters. Strange, who does TV during the tournament every year, is an invitee each spring as two-time U.S. Open champion. Haas also got to come from 2010 to 2017, when his son Bill qualified to play.

Bill’s best finish a Augusta was in 2015, when he finished T-12. On Saturday afternoon, after Bill had finished his front nine, Jay hustled into the clubhouse to grab a quick bathroom stop. Instinctively, he headed for the locker room.

“I’m sorry sir,” the guard at the door said, pointing at his “player family” badge. “Players only in the locker room.”

Haas had played in 22 Masters. Because he is one of the world’s nicest human beings, he laughed and said, “Sorry, I forgot,” and went to the bathroom in the grill room. My only regret was that it hadn’t been his pal Strange who had been stopped that way. I suspect his response might not have been as polite.

Icon Sportswire
Thirteen years removed from the playoff loss to Tiger Woods at Torrey Pines, Rocco Mediate turned down the USGA’s offer to watch the 2021 U.S. Open in person.

Golf is, of course, littered with near-misses at major championships. It also has those one-time moments: Jack Fleck beating Ben Hogan in the 1955 U.S. Open; Orville Moody winning the U.S. Open in 1969; Ben Curtis winning as a PGA Tour rookie at Royal St. George’s in 2003 and Shaun Micheel, who never won on tour before or after, winning the PGA a month later at Oak Hill.

As I said, I spent hours and hours with Mediate after Torrey Pines in 2008. He repeatedly insisted that being so close and losing that way to the world’s best player was a joyous memory he would carry forever.

I know he’s still carrying the memory. But, as with Donald and Sanders and others who came so close without getting a major victory, I suspect there’s more pain than joy in that memory. The pain does get farther away, but it never goes away.

The post Louis Oosthuizen’s seconds are adding up, but his heart hasn’t been broken like other near-miss major winners appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By E. Michael Johnson
Winning a national championship, or any major for that matter, inherently raises a player’s profile, providing an objective accomplishment that will forever define his legacy. Names such as Charles Coody, Lou Graham, Ben Curtis and Shaun Micheel are ones most golf fans recognize, not for their excellence over a lengthy career, but rather for capturing one of the four biggest treasures in the men’s game. Conversely, those who come close but fall short on golf’s grandest stages—sometimes just one measly stroke short—risk being slighted despite potentially having more robust overall careers.

Among that group, you might include Rocco Mediate. With the U.S. Open returning to Torrey Pines this week, Mediate’s oh-so-close moment on the South Course in 2008—a playoff loss to Tiger Woods—will be discussed ad nauseum. Mediate will be remembered even in defeat given the thrilling nature of Woods’ victory.

But others who had similar fates to Mediate, watching a legitimate shot at a life-changing U.S. Open win slip away, aren’t quite so lucky. Consider what’s happened to the legacies of these 10 tour pros, each of whom had a U.S. Open within their grasp. For the purposes of this exercise, the players mentioned either lost by one or in a playoff, or were very much in the mix over the closing holes and never won a major in their career. And before anyone takes umbrage that we passed on Al Espinosa (1929) and George Von Elm (1931), we felt the former losing to Bobby Jones and the latter falling in a 72-hole playoff provided a certain lasting impression, even if it wasn’t the one they wanted.

Mike Brady, 1919

OK, anyone who shoots 80 in the final round of the U.S. Open probably doesn’t deserve to win. Brady, playing a full two hours ahead of Walter Hagen, however, posted that number and hoped his five-shot lead at the start of the day at Brae Burn Country Club would be enough. Hagen had a 10-footer to win at the final hole but it lipped out. In the playoff, Hagen got out to a lead, but Brady trimmed it to one with one to play before both parred the 18th. You might not have heard of Brady, but he had nine PGA Tour wins from 1916 through 1926 and had nine top-10s in the U.S. Open in 17 starts.

Mike Brady and Walter Hagen in 1919 U.S. Open at Brae Burn Country Club. Bettmann

• • •

Harry Cooper, 1927

The man known as “Lighthorse” is not exactly an unknown in golf, but with no majors, he carries the dubious distinction of being the winningest PGA Tour pro (30 career tour titles) without one. At the 1927 U.S. Open, Cooper shot a final-round 77 at Oakmont but looked like he’d emerge the winner. That is until Tommy Armour finished one under for his final six holes to tie him at 13-over 301. In the 18-hole playoff, Cooper led by two with six to play, but Armour tied things at the 15th. Cooper then double bogeyed the par-3 16th, en route to one of his four career runners-up in majors.

• • •

Doug Sanders, 1961

Sanders started the second 18 of a 36-hole final day at Oakland Hills with a three-shot lead despite his putting being awfully shaky. In the afternoon, Gene Littler caught Sanders, then on the 13th took a two-shot edge with a birdie-bogey swing. Sanders birdied 16 to close within one but failed to convert a birdie try at 17 and just missed holing out a chip at the last that would have tied things up. Sanders went on to win 20 PGA Tour events, but the lack of a major was a tag that stayed with him. And this wouldn’t be his worse near-miss. That would come with a playoff loss to Jack Nicklaus at St. Andrews in the 1970 Open Championship.

• • •

Jacky Cupit, 1963

Jacky who? You’re forgiven for asking. Not many remember pros that had four PGA wins from 1961 to 1966. At the 1963 U.S. Open, however, it appeared Cupit was going win a big one. Although Julius Boros closed fast with two birdies in his final three holes at The Country Club, Cupit still held a two-shot lead as he played the par-4 17th. But just like Harry Vardon in 1913, the 17th proved Cupit’s undoing as he made an ugly double bogey on the 365-yard hole. Cupit did have a 12-footer for the win at 18, but his putt nicked the edge of the hole and stayed out. That led to a three-way playoff with Boros and Arnold Palmer that Boros won easily, leaving Cupit relegated to golf anonymity.

Julius Boros, Arnold Palmer and Jacky Cupit squared off in a playoff at the 1963 U.S. Open at The Country Club. Bettmann

• • •

Dave Barr/T.C. Chen, 1985

Golf aficionados are aware of Chen’s double-hit on Oakland Hills’ fifth hole that led to a quadruple-bogey 8 and the nickname “Two-Chip.” Perhaps forgotten is that despite the setback and the three consecutive bogeys that followed, Chen was only one back of Andy North and Canada’s Dave Barr through 16 holes of the final round. That’s when things went south for Chen and Barr. Playing ahead of North and Chen, Barr tried a lob shot from rough on the par-3 17th but came up woefully short, leading to bogey. Chen found the green on 17 while North found sand, but North nearly holed his bunker shot and Chen made a bad three-putt bogey. Up ahead on 18, Barr found the fairway bunker and also bogeyed, allowing North to win with a bogey on 18. Although Chen has his place in golf infamy due to his miscue, Barr remains a mostly forgotten player from that Open.

MORE: Bryson DeChambeau is golf’s biggest attraction. But will he be beloved?

• • •

Mike Donald, 1990

In the rare U.S. Open where par was not a good score, Donald was nine under on the 16th hole at Medinah, holding a one-shot lead over Hale Irwin, whose dramatic 45-foot birdie putt at the last put him just a stroke back. On 16, Donald flared his second but a serviceable bunker shot left him with a 12-footer for par. The putt, however, came up a revolution short, resulting in Donald’s first bogey of the day. Tied now with Irwin, Donald left a 15-foot birdie try on 17 well short and a par on 18 forced an 18-hole playoff the following day. Donald jumped ahead by two in the playoff heading to the 14th and rolled in a 10-footer for birdie on the par 5 to go three up before Irwin made a five-footer for birdie. Irwin hit his approach on 16 to six feet and birdied to get within one with two to play. On the par-3 17th, Donald hit to 10 feet but narrowly missed when a make would have effectively ended things. On 18, Donald hit a pull hook off the tee and put his recovery into a greenside bunker. He came up short on the bunker shot and missed a 15-footer to win, leading to sudden death for the first time in a U.S. Open. On the first hole Irwin hit his approach to 10 feet and made the birdie to become, at 45, the oldest winner in the championship’s history. As for Donald, he would have the 1989 Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic as his lone PGA Tour victory.

A disappointed Mike Donald at the prize ceremony after his playoff loss to Hale Irwin at the 1990 U.S. Open. Getty Images

• • •

Loren Roberts, 1994

Yes, we know Colin Montgomerie was in the playoff, but he was never really that close to winning. (Besides, we’ll get to Monty in a bit.) Playing ahead of Ernie Els, Roberts was tied with the South African and smoked his tee shot on 18. On the short par-4 17th, Els badly pulled his tee shot into trees and behind a grandstand but got the mother of all drops, being allowed to go to a drop area that remarkably was closer to the green and free of trees, allowing him to easily save par. Roberts approach took a big bounce and after a chip to four feet, the “Boss of the Moss” missed, but Els also bogeyed 18 after an errant tee shot, setting up a three-way playoff with Montgomerie. Monty faltered early, and Roberts held a one-shot lead over Els with three to play before a bogey on the long par-3 16th. On 18, Roberts made a 12-footer for par and Els had a nervy four-footer to tie, which he made. On the first hole of sudden death (Oakmont’s 10th) Els missed an eight-footer to end it, followed by Roberts putting a five-foot par putt centre cut for his third clutch putt in a row. Roberts sliced his tee shot on the 11th into heavy rough, gouged it into the greenside bunker where he hit a poor shot from a squirrely sidehill lie and couldn’t make one more putt, watching his 30-footer for par slam into the back of the cup and spin out, making Els the champ and leaving Roberts—whose career included eight PGA Tour wins and 13 more on the PGA Tour Champions—one of the best players never to bag a major.

Loren Roberts reacts to a missed putt in the playoff at the 1994 U.S. Open. PGA TOUR Archive

• • •

Colin Montgomerie, 1997

We said we’d get to Monty. The burly Scot was tied with Els yet again three years later at Congressional as well as Tom Lehman as he stood on the 17th tee. Both Montgomerie and Els hit good tee shots, but while Els stuck a 5-iron from 212 yards to 15 feet, Monty flared a 6-iron from 203 yards wide right. As they approached the green, Lehman bogeyed 16 to fall one back and Montgomerie joined him moments later after failing to get up and down from the greenside rough, missing a six-footer for par that Montgomerie waited several minutes to strike due to commotion from the nearby par-3 18th hole. Montgomerie then missed one last lengthy birdie try on 18 to be victimized again by Els. A Hall of Famer with 54 wins worldwide, Montgomerie is missing a major (we could also go into detail about 2006 at Winged Foot but that would be piling on) as well as any PGA Tour win, notable omissions on an otherwise impeccable résumé.

• • •

Gregory Havret, 2010

It’s easy to forget how close Gregory Havret came to winning the U.S. Open in 2010, or at least getting in a playoff. After all, Havret was paired with Tiger Woods and all eyes were on the man in red-and-black, who, as it turned out, did not have his best day. The Frenchman, however, was just one back of Graeme McDowell as he played the par-3 17th at Pebble Beach. Havret made bogey after hitting into a bunker and missing a 12-footer, but McDowell, playing in the group behind, also bogeyed, giving Havret life on the par-5 finisher. A perfect tee shot on 18 left Havret with an iron to the green, but he came up short in the front greenside bunker. Still, the shot was not difficult—analyst Johnny Miller, in fact, commented the shot could easily be holed. Instead, Havret hit to seven feet and pulled the putt, affording McDowell the luxury of laying up on the final hole and walking off with a winning par. As for Havret, his career included just three wins on the European Tour, the last in 2008.

A good drive on the 18th at Pebble gave Gregory Havret a potential chance at birdie to tie Graeme McDowell, but he’d walk off with a par to finish one-shot back. Rob Tringali

The post You might not remember how (painfully) close these 10 golfers came to winning the U.S. Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

A decade ago, I stood pacing around my parents’ living room willing/begging/praying for a Tiger Woods putt to drop. I can admit to that since it would be another nine months until I landed a gig at Golf Digest and officially became a member of the golf media. In that moment, I was simply a fan, although the full term—fanatic—is more appropriate. My parents were both there, but hiding in the corners of the room out of fear for what I would do if he missed. Thankfully, he didn’t.

That celebratory group hug remains a happy, vivid memory, but the rest of that week is a blur. Partly, because I was busy driving all over New York state covering high school baseball for The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News, and partly because it was 10 years ago. TEN freaking years. Can you believe it? Feeling all nostalgic—probably because I finally got SiriusXM and have the dial set to the ’90s on 9 channel—I decided to go back and re-watch the tournament again. And while everyone can recall “The Putt,” the playoff and Tiger playing through pain, here are some things you might not remember from that week.

1. At a stout 7,643 yards, Torrey Pines was actually THE LONGEST COURSE IN MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY at the time. This point was driven home by the crews at ESPN (Yes, Chris Berman was still covering U.S. Opens) and NBC. As was the fact that TORREY PINES IS A PUBLIC GOLF COURSE. Moving on …

2. For the first two days, the USGA made a “Dream Pairing” of World No. 1 Tiger woods, World No. 2 Phil Mickelson and World No. 3 Adam Scott. At the 2018 U.S. Open, Woods will also be part of a top-two pairing. Only now it’s Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson, two players who had yet to win a PGA Tour title in 2008 (to be fair, JT was 15) but are now 1-2, while Woods is No. 80. A lot can change in 10 years, huh?

3. With the entire golf world watching, Scott went with this argyle look on Day 1 and it was no big deal.

Bloomberg

Again, a lot can change in 10 years.

4. Speaking of Scott, like Woods, he was playing despite suffering a recent injury. The Aussie’s right hand had been broken a few weeks prior when a friend shut a car door on him by accident and it was still bad enough that he used his left hand to shake hands with Tiger and Phil. Despite this, Scott finished a rather heroic T-26.

5. Tiger double-bogeyed Torrey Pines’ first hole on Thursday. Remarkably, he also did the same thing on Saturday and Sunday. On Friday, however, playing it as his 10th hole, Tiger made an incredible birdie after standing/slipping on a cart path during his approach shot.

Not that the shot helped his bad leg.

6. Tiger badly bladed and chunked a pitch shot during his opening round. It wasn’t enough to get anyone to whisper the “Y-word,” but it was ugly. He opened with a one-over-par 72.

7. Tiger’s grimaces weren’t always on bad shots, contrary to what a certain co-worker who shall remain nameless (and many others) like to claim. In fact, he grimaced for the first time of the tournament as his Thursday tee shot on 18 split the fairway. So he’s an equal-opportunity grimacer. Pipe down, haters.

8. Kevin Streelman and Justin Hicks led after Day 1 at three under, a score that would lead after each of the first three rounds. SPOILER ALERT: Neither Streelman or Hicks stayed near the top of the leader board for long.

9. Rocco Mediate missed a four-footer for eagle on No. 18 during the second round. That kept him one stroke behind 36-hole leader Stuart Appleby heading into the weekend. Tiger was also tied for second at two under, along with Robert Karlsson. It’s tough to ever be too disappointed by making a birdie at a U.S. Open, but Rocco would have loved to count one fewer stroke come Sunday evening …

10. Tiger pulled himself into contention with a second-round 68 that included a back-nine 30. However, Miguel Angel Jimenez shot the day’s low round of 66. And then probably took a long drive to Napa wine country to celebrate since he now had a late Saturday tee time.

11. Three amateurs made the cut, including some long-haired kid named Rickie Fowler. Whatever happened to him?

12. There was a lengthy weather delay on Day 3. Kidding! It never rains in the San Diego area. Maybe they should play more majors there, especially since the three-hour time difference allowed people on the East Coast to watch prime-time golf on Saturday night. I remember that, because it’s the only reason I was able to see that magical finish while writing a H.S. baseball state championship game story from a hotel lobby. Ah, the glamorous lifestyle of a young sports reporter. Speaking of that unforgettable Saturday finish …

13. Johnny Miller (kind of) called Tiger’s eagle on No. 13. Tiger had fallen five back when he reached the par 5 and blew a drive way right. As he set up for a difficult uphill shot from the rough to a front pin, Miller had a seemingly far-fetched thought.

“This eagle, if he could somehow get it,” Miller said, “I think would change the whole championship. I really do.”

Woods hit a great shot to the back of the green and then rammed in a 65-foot curler.

“There’s that eagle I talked about that could change the championship!” said Miller, verbially patting himself on the back.

14. Tiger provided more fireworks with a one-hop chip-in for birdie on 17 that caused him to flash a sheepish smile.

But a marshal in utter disbelief may have given the best reaction:

15. Woods grimaced/winced/dropped down a bit after striking a solid 5-wood from 226 to the centre of the 18th green. (Look! More grimacing on good shots!) Of course, Woods would probably hit 5-iron from the same distance today. Technology, am I right?

16. Dan Hicks delivered his first great call on No. 18 after Woods converted a long double-breaker for another eagle.

“A second eagle on the back nine for Tiger Woods!” Hicks exclaimed. “That’s what you call limping home!” Suddenly, Tiger had taken the lead.

17. Speaking of that limp, it should be noted that at the time, people thought Woods’ pain was simply from returning too soon from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee following a runner-up at the Masters. In fact, Woods was playing with a torn ACL and a double stress fracture of his tibia he sustained during recovery. No one knew he was playing with a torn ligament and a BROKEN LEG until two days after this win when Woods announced he’d undergo another surgery and miss the rest of the season. Suddenly, an epic win was elevated to perhaps the greatest triumph in golf history. And again, the haters claiming Woods was being overly dramatic were silenced. But we still had a tournament to finish …

18. Seeming like a lock to win with that perfect record with a 54-hole lead in majors, Tiger double bogeyed the first hole to start his final round. I know I already said he doubled the hole three of four days, but it was particularly shocking seeing peak Tiger—injury or not—in Sunday red looking like a total chop. Meanwhile, Rocco birdied the second hole to take the solo lead, and after an extra-big grimace by Woods following a bad tee shot on No. 2, a Woods win actually seemed pretty unlikely.

19. The forgotten man in all of this drama is Lee Westwood. No one played better from tee to green that week, and the Brit probably should have won. Of course, he didn’t, because he’s never won a major and sadly, likely never will. And while many point to his feeble birdie attempt coming up short on No. 18, it was another putt on No. 8 that was even worse. After stuffing a tee shot to about six feet with a difficult pin position, Westwood whiffed on what would have given him a two-shot lead. Ouch.

20. Hicks is remembered for his fantastic call of Tiger’s finishing birdie on Sunday (“EXPECT ANYTHING DIFFERENT?!”), but he actually gave a pretty similar proclamation a couple hours earlier when Woods rolled in a five-footer for birdie on No. 11 to take the lead.

“Would you have expected anything else?” No, but we also wouldn’t have expected (in a different way) what happened two holes later.

21. After a great drive down the left side of the par-5 13th, the hole that began Tiger’s thrilling Saturday charge, Woods inexplicably snap-hooked his second shot into the high stuff and made bogey. This was far from over.

22. Mediate made a closing par to finish at one-under 283 for 72 holes. After plucking his golf ball out of the hole, he looked at caddie Matthew Achatz with a half-smile and said, “I don’t know. I don’t know.” Meanwhile, I don’t know about Rocco’s belt buckle …

23. Miller (kind of) called Tiger’s closing birdie. After Woods hit that pretty snazzy approach shot from the rough to about 12 feet, NBC’s cameras showed Rocco in the scorer’s area. “Don’t check out of your hotel, Rocco.” Boom.

24. Everyone remembers “the putt.” Let’s watch again, shall we?

And while you remember the reactions by Woods and Hicks, Rocco had a good one of his own.

“Unbelievable,” he muttered. “I knew he’d make it.” Poor Rocco.

25. Rocco wore a red shirt for the Monday playoff. BOLD.

Icon Sportswire

26. But Tiger didn’t seem to mind Mediate’s colour choice. When he finally hit a good drive on No. 1 to begin the Monday 18-hole playoff (Someday, we’ll have to be reminded the U.S. Open used to use this extra-hole format, which now goes down as the last 18-hole playoff in U.S. Open history), raised his arms in celebration and even joked around with Rocco.

I definitely didn’t remember Woods being this loose during such an intense moment. But maybe that’s because I got called out of the office at the last moment to cover a local school celebrating a state title. Never had I been so ticked off about an assignment, and I let it show to the point where I was scolded by my boss a few days later. Whoops. Anyway, I’d have to settle for hearing much of Monday’s playoff through the eyes of Mike Francesa, which if you’ve ever heard Mike Francesa talk about golf, is not a good thing.

27. So many 18-hole playoffs are lopsided, and this appeared to be another one after Woods made a 20-footer from the fringe for par on No. 10 and Rocco missed from five feet. Woods now had a three-shot lead. At a major. With eight holes to go. Despite his injury, Miller would have had to have deemed this a choke if Woods lost now …

28. Most fans remember Woods’ remarkable recovery shot from a fairway bunker on No. 15—a fairway bunker from the ninth hole—but even more remarkable was that Rocco rolled in about a 30-footer for birdie while Woods missed from about 10 feet. Suddenly, Rocco was in front.

29. Both players had to sweat a little more than they should have on No. 18. Miller really, really liked Rocco’s chances of winning after two good shots.

“I think he’s got the perfect club, folks. This could be close with that trap draw of his and that slice wind. It’s a green lighter.” But Mediate only managed to hit it to 20 feet. “Not his best shot, but under pressure, that’s pretty good.”

Rocco had that 20-footer for the win, and … blew it a good three feet past. Meanwhile, Woods got pretty frisky with his long eagle attempt that wandered some four feet past the cup. Both converted, though, and we played on.

“Ninety holes through the 108th U.S. Open and still not enough to decide a champion,” Hicks exclaimed.

30. With a win, Mediate would have become the oldest U.S. Open champ in history at 45, passing Hale Irwin by a few months. (Phil Mickelson will turn 48 on the Saturday of this year’s tournament when he tries to finally complete that career Grand Slam.) But the last hole—the first sudden-death hole played on the par-4 seventh—was ugly. Rocco tugged his tee shot left into a fairway bunker, hit one farther left on his second and had to use a drop area. “Is the Cinderella story about to end?” Hicks wondered.

For a moment, it looked like it might continue when Woods’ winning birdie putt came up juuuust short, which caused Rocco to crack a smile (not that it takes much to cause him to crack a smile). But he couldn’t convert a 20-footer for par to keep it going.

“And in one of the most remarkable performances of his career,” Hicks said, “Tiger Woods perseveres through Torrey Pines and wins a third U.S. Open championship.”

31. Tiger and Steve Williams were boys:

Icon Sportswire

OK, maybe you do remember that, but I still wanted to point that out. Now? Not so much. . .

32. Bob Costas conducted great post-round interviews with both Rocco . . .

“I never quit. I’ve been beaten down a few times and I came back. And I got what I wanted. I got a chance to beat the best player in the world. I came up just a touch short, but I think I had him a little scared at once, which is great. He just said ‘great fight’ to me, and that means the world to me.”

And Tiger:

“I’m glad I’m done. I’m done,” said Woods, now a 14-time major champ at 32, with a laugh. “All I can say is the atmosphere kept me going. The tournament, being a major championship here at Torrey Pines. All the people. I could never quit in front of these people. It wasn’t going to happen.”

Icon Sportswire

By the way, Costas was an integral part of the broadcast, from his opening monologues to his player interviews. I miss him doing golf. That dude is versatile. And what a beautiful head of hair.

33. Tiger’s ex-wife, Elin Nordegren, and his daughter Sam, two days from her first birthday, were there for a belated Father’s Day celebration.

Bloomberg

“You know, I lost my dad a couple years ago, and I know how special it was in 2002 to bring this home and talk to him about it and share it with him,” Woods said. “I can’t do that anymore, but now I’m a father, I’m on the other side now. This is probably the greatest tournament I’ve ever had.”

I’m not going to argue. And I’m sure I’m not the only person who celebrated Woods’ play that week with their parents—although, I might have been one of the oldest. Now a decade after Tiger’s legendary victory, I have an infant daughter and a house of my own in which a giant—and I mean giant—framed photo of Woods’ playoff-forcing putt (Plucked when Golf Digest moved offices … Shhh …) hangs on a wall in the basement. Hey, I only have so much sway these days.

In the time since Tiger’s triumph at Torrey in 2008, it seems like just about everything has changed except Woods’ major championship total (UPDATE: That changed too at the 2019 Masters!). But even if golf fans don’t remember every detail from that week, it’s safe to say we’ll never forget how things turned out—and that we’ll never see anything quite like it again.

The post 33 things you don’t remember from Tiger Woods’ epic win at the 2008 U.S. Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Scottie Pippen says Michael Jordan gave him a set of golf clubs as a rookie to “lure me in so he could take all my money.” Classic. #TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/Bgd4SZvuEt

— Alex Myers (@AlexMyers3) April 20, 2020

Jordan! What a savage. On second thought, I’m definitely going to keep watching because this docuseries is a content factory. In any event, let’s examine what else is (still) happening in the world of golf.

WE’RE BUYING

A June PGA Tour restart: At least, we’re buying its potential. The PGA Tour’s bold adjusted schedule seems extremely tentative at this point—especially because the European Tour continues to cancel events and has no timetable for a return—but it’s nice to have some positive news to report for a change. If all goes as planned, the season would restart at Colonial on June 11 and run all the way through a Labor Day Weekend Tour Championship for a total of 36 events in 2019-2020. The first four events wouldn’t have fans and there would only be one major (the PGA Championship in August) technically played this season and six next season, but who really cares? Golf would be back! Fingers crossed this all actually happens. There’s only so many possible Michael Jordan golf gambling stories to write about.

Alex Cejka: But there is still mini-tour news to report. This one-time PGA Tour winner and four-time European Tour winner is now a one-time winner on the Outlaw Tour after winning something called the Arrowhead Classic. Talk about a ringer. We’re guessing the $5,000 first-place check didn’t do much for a man who has about $20 million in career earnings around the world, but it looks like he’s keeping his game sharp. Cejka turns 50 in December so who knows? He could be senior tour eligible by the time play resumes.

Dinner at Tiger’s: Apparently, when you get invited to dinner at Tiger Woods’ house, bring a bat instead of a bottle of wine. As Justin Thomas told it on “Tiger Tales,” Woods and his son like playing home run derby in the living room after they eat. Yep, the living room.

Of course, JT couldn’t avoid breaking something. Anyway, sounds like fun. Speaking of “home runs”. . .

This invention: Kudos to Georgia’s Cobblestone Golf Course for coming up with a creative way to combat the spread of COVID-19:

Check out the new EZ Lift ball retrievers that we have installed on all flagsticks. No need to ever touch the flagstick again! pic.twitter.com/h5oKyXQME5

— Cobblestone (@CobblestoneGolf) April 16, 2020

Pretty slick. And pretty good for the back as well. I hope whoever invented this filed for a patent.

WE’RE SELLING

A Ryder Cup with no fans: Playing regular PGA Tour events without fans? Fine. I’d even be OK with major championships being contested this way. But the Ryder Cup? That’s a different animal altogether. The ELECTRIC atmosphere is what makes this biennial event so, well, ELECTRIC. How can you not have the absurdly large grandstands around the first tee packed with people? Or the incessant “Ole, ole, ole, ole! Ole, ole!” chants? Or the player song parodies? OK, so we could do without the last part, but you get the point. If this is how it’s going to be, let’s just punt to next year instead. Because if I can’t hear European golf writers bitch about how crude American crowds are toward the Euros, then what are we even doing here?

John Daly’s Coronavirus “cure”: In a video that we won’t share, the two-time major champ jokes(?) about drinking a bottle of vodka per day to help get “over this thing” really soon. “And that’s the way you kill this coronavirus I believe,” he adds. Hmm. It should be noted the World Health Organization says alcohol may actually put people at increased risk of contracting the coronavirus. Of course, it also should be noted that John Daly is not a doctor.

Tiger’s taste in gum: A year ago, golf’s biggest mystery was what gum Tiger Woods chewed on his way to his epic fifth Masters win. And now, we finally seem to have the answer and it’s not Big Red! Instead, Woods said during a recent fan Q&A with GOLFTV that he and caddie Joe LaCava like to chew on “orange Trident”:

What gum is @TigerWoods always chewing in competition? ?

Use #AskTiger to submit your questions. pic.twitter.com/I1McnhhOZu

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) April 17, 2020

We believe he means Trident Tropical, which is decent, but it’s no Trident watermelon. Or Bubbalicious watermelon. Or, really, any watermelon-flavoured. Or Big League Chew, which apparently makes a watermelon flavour now as well. That definitely wasn’t around when I was a kid. Man, we had it rough, huh? Anyway, Tiger, there are plenty of options out there. Then again, if you won the Masters chomping on this, maybe you should, um, stick with what’s working.

ON TAP

This week would have been the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, AKA that team event on the PGA Tour where Brooks Koepka usually invites his brother. This had become a fun one since switching to twosomes in 2017. Oh well, there’s always next year. We think.

Random tournament fact: Billy Horschel is the only player to win the Zurich Classic as both an individual and team event. Talk about a guy who is great at working alone and with others.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

—Brooks and Bryson will team up at next year’s Zurich: 1 MILLION-to-1 odds
—My local courses will add some sort of flagstick contraption: Even odds
—More people will be chewing Trident Tropical on courses everywhere: LOCK

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Thanks to Brenda Calcavecchia for sharing this (NSFW) scorecard from her husband Mark’s win at the 2007 PODS Championship (AKA the Valspar now):

This is a look into what I have been dealing with the past 20 yrs. The first day of pods he told me to pack up everything and be ready to go as soon as he was done. If you look closely before he signed his name he wrote “I fucking suck”. He ended up winning that week pic.twitter.com/zloGYLVgRV

— Brenda Calcavecchia (@brendacalc) April 14, 2020

Mark is certainly not the first or last golfer to write that on a scorecard. We’re guessing he’s the only one to go on to win a PGA Tour event that week, though. Good stuff.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

How about Rocco Mediate looking like any other guy on the range at your local course?

Good morning!@RoccoMediate on the range!#Golf #minnesotagolf pic.twitter.com/f0YKiX5O57

— goldenvalleycountryclub (@GoldenValleyCC) April 18, 2020

And yet he almost took down Tiger Woods at a U.S. Open. Golf. . . what a great sport!

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (TRICK-SHOT DIVISION)

Or really, trick-shot video of the month. We’ve seen some impressive ones during #QuarantineSZN, but this won GOLFTV’s Lockdown Trick Shot bracket:

Best lockdown trick shot ?

The votes are in and you guys have chosen “the ring shot” as the winner of our #BestLockdownTrickShot bracket. pic.twitter.com/FPOt9Trj2h

— GOLFTV (@GOLFTV) April 20, 2020

And for good reason.

THIS WEEK IN TOUR PROS BEING QUARANTINED

Gaby Lopez misses going to the gym so much she shared an old workout video:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_LpBtjFC5l/?utm_source=ig_embed

Lee Westwood has created his own gym and is posting shirtless workout videos:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_AEInMjvxv/?utm_source=ig_embed

And Ian Poulter is still trolling people:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_AHe-EFsRW/?utm_source=ig_embed

All kidding aside, Lee looks pretty jacked. And I don’t care if that’s an old video from Gaby, that’s mighty impressive. And probably not covered in 8 Minute Abs.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Well, seagulls are known for flying around and sh–ing on people . . . so I am a seagull. I fly around and drop sh– on people. And it usually makes them laugh or sometimes is pisses them off. It all depends on what mood you’re in.” — Charley Hoffman to SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio on why his nickname is “Seagull.” Love it.

THIS AND THAT

This week’s Golf Digest Podcast guest is Erik van Rooyen, an interview recorded before the start of the Players Championship. So about 13 years ago in Quarantine Time. . . .

Congrats to Tim Finchem, who did a great job as PGA Tour commissioner, for being the latest selection into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Of course, he also had great timing with Tiger Woods coming along. . . . Speaking of Tiger, how about this stat our Ryan Herrington dug up? Woods has won more than 40 per cent of possible prize money seven times in his career and is on pace to do it again this season. Tom Watson is the only other player to do this even once in the past 40 years—and he did it 40 years ago. Tiger! GOAT! . . . And finally, I’m on a big Wheat Thins kick of late:

That’s the undisputed GOAT of crackers in my book.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Who is the “Seagull” of the Golf Digest office?
What was Michael Joran’s go-to gum on the basketball court?
What are Michael Jordan’s career earnings on the golf course?

The post Gaby Lopez’ workout, Michael Jordan’s savage golf move, and a classic (NSFW) scorecard message appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege
Rocco Mediate closed with a flourish, but still needed an assist to win and Ken Duke delivered one on the final hole of the Sanford International on Sunday.

Mediate birdied his final two holes at Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls, S.D., to take the clubhouse lead, momentarily. Duke pulled into a tie with a birdie at 16, then botched the 18th hole, making a double bogey.

The victory was the first in more than three years for Mediate and was the fourth of his PGA Tour Champions career. He closed with his best round of the year, a six-under-par 64, for a 54-hole total of nine-under 201. Tying for second, two strokes back, were Duke, Bob Estes and Colin Montgomerie.

“When I added them up, I went, Holy cr#, 64, that was cool*,” Mediate said. “It was just one of those days everything kind of went really good. When I was bad, I got it up and down. When I was good, I made putts. You have to do this crazy stuff. Putted my you-know-what off today, but I hit a lot of good shots, too.”

It has been an average season in a senior career with an increasing number of them for Mediate. In 18 previous starts this year, he had had only two top-10s, the highest of them a tie for seventh.

“Yeah, it’s been a long time, but the last four or five weeks it’s been getting better,” he said. “I’m fitting into my body. I’m used to that. All the other stuff that I fixed, equipment stuff, I’m starting to see what I used to see.”

He started the final round of the Sanford International in a tie for ninth and trailing leader Duke by four strokes. In his bogey-free final round, he needed only 27 putts, the last of them a 12-footer that elicited a fist pump.

Then he played the waiting game. Duke, a senior tour rookie, hit his drive into the rough at 18, a mistake from which he was unable to recover. He needed four shots to reach the green on the par 4 and two putts to hole out.

“I hit a good tee shot and it just kicked hard right into the rough a foot and I had a horrible lie,” he said. “Then I hit the shot up here and I thought it was in a seam of sod, but [a rules official] said there was no sod, nothing sodded. It was probably one of the worst lies I’ve ever had sitting down. What are you going to do after that? Nothing you can do about it.”

The post Rocco Mediate posts first win in more than three years, with an assist from Ken Duke appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers
Rocco Mediate described himself as a “habitual alcoholic” during a recent interview with Golf Channel, revealing he often drank during competitive rounds on both the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions. Mediate said he used alcohol, in part, to cope with back injuries that plagued him throughout his career.

“Absolutely I have [played while drinking],” Mediate told Golf Channel’s Vince Cellini on the latest episode of PGA Tour Champions Learning Center. “Because it was just normal for me. It was just a daily ritual, let’s say. You can put it in a lot of places. A lot of places. Was it every time? No. But most of the time when the pain came in, it wasn’t not going to happen.”

Mediate says he kicked the habit in October 2017 with the help of his wife following a poor season on the course.

“I couldn’t tell you since last October, years before that, a day I went without having a drink,” Mediate said. “I knew at the time that eventually it was going to get me.”

Mediate won six times on the PGA Tour, most recently at the 2010 Frys.com Open. The 56-year-old has added three more titles on the PGA Tour Champions.

Of course, he’s probably best known for losing in a playoff to Tiger Woods at the 2008 U.S. Open. When asked about Woods, who has suffered from a bad back in recent years and was arrested for DUI on Memorial Day in 2017 for a combination of prescription medications, Mediate related.

“When that happened, I went, ‘Mm-hmm, yeah. I just didn’t get caught,’” Mediate said. “But when it comes to that type of pain, you’ll basically do whatever it takes to be able to go, ‘Oh, that feels better.’”

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