It is hard for a golfer to be defined by any one tournament, let alone one he didn’t win.
For Rocco Mediate that’s the case, even if he doesn’t fully agree with the perspective.
Mediate, who is in Calgary for the Champions Tour event that kicks off on Friday, is best known for his playoff loss to Tiger Woods in the U.S. Open in 2008. Given that Woods has not won another major championship since then, Mediate is asked repeatedly about his take on the star’s struggles.
“I’m fine with it,” Mediate says. “That was one of those wild weeks. That doesn’t happen very often.”
Mediate was considered a long shot in the 18-hole playoff. Woods won five major championships in the two years previous to the 2008 U.S. Open, while Mediate had not recorded a victory on the PGA Tour since 2002. Despite that, Mediate took Woods to a sudden-death 19th hole in the playoff before making a bogey on the final hole. It was disclosed after the round that Woods had been playing on a stress fracture in his left leg, forcing him to miss the remainder of the 2008 season.
Since that point Woods has endured further injuries and a high-profile sex scandal. He’s won eight times in the past two years, but has been stalled at 14 majors as he chases Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18.
Mediate says he’s not surprised Woods has not dominated major championships like he once did.
“He’s the same player – he’s just not hitting the same shots,” said an animated Mediate. “As far as control of the golf ball, it’s not there like it was before. It’s just not.”
That said, he discounts the notion that Woods, 37, is struggling because of injuries or age. Mediate, 50, who joined the Champions Tour this year contends he’s become a better player as he’s aged. At a time when golfers keep themselves in better shape and players like Kenny Perry and Fred Funk
“I don’t think it’s because he’s older at all,” he says. “He’s stronger than anybody, one of the Top 10 conditioned athletes on the planet. We get better as we get older – most of us. I got way better since I’ve gotten older.”
Mediate isn’t the only one in the tournament with a link to Woods. Mark O’Meara, the former British Open and Masters winner who is also in the Shaw Charity Classic field, was once considered a mentor to Woods. However, these days the pair rarely speak, especially after O’Meara moved from Florida to Houston. For O’Meara, it is a case of Woods lacking the patience needed in majors.
“If Tiger called me tomorrow – and he doesn’t call me – I’d say what I see is there is a lot of pressure,” O’Meara says. “But if it were me, I’d say back off. Don’t go in with lower expectations. But don’t try so hard – sometimes when you push so hard it doesn’t happen. And as soon as you back off a bit the floodgates open.”
O’Meara said that’s what happened for him when he won the Masters.
“In 1998 at Augusta I didn’t hit the ball that well in the practice round, my confidence wasn’t great,” he says. “No one expected much and I didn’t expect much and it came together. That’s the way it is.”
O’Meara says for Woods it might be a case of less is more.
“Tiger is under such a microscope,” he says. “Everyone expects him to win those majors – and so does he. But if he just backed off it might come to him faster.”
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