Fair fight? Rocco's pride swells at thought of a playoff

SAN DIEGO – Rocco Mediate wandered into the interview and started talking before he even picked up the microphone or was asked a question. His mouth pretty much runs perpetually on auto pilot.

"I bet you didn't think I'd be here today, did you?" he asked.

In fairness to every reporter in the room, nobody's faith in Mediate's hang time in the U.S. Open could be questioned when his hometown newspapers from Pittsburgh didn't even bother sending anyone to cover the event.

"They missed it," Mediate said.

Who could possibly have bet the odds that a 45-year-old man with a history of chronic back problems would stick around the hardest test in tournament golf long enough to earn an extra 18-hole session with Tiger Woods?

Consider this. On Saturday the last line of Rocco Mediate's Wikipedia entry said he signed a contract to serve as a TV analyst for the Golf Channel in 2006. By Sunday night that line was replaced with this:

If Rocco Mediate beats Tiger Woods, he would be the oldest U.S. Open champion. (Getty Images)

Talk about a fluid legacy. It is certainly unreal to think how much Mediate's career bio might change overnight. From aging rank-and-file pro to potentially the oldest champion in the history of the 108-year-old U.S. Open.

For a guy who was one more bump on the path of Tiger Woods' final putt away from kissing the U.S. Open trophy already, Mediate was the giddiest guy at Torrey Pines with the prospect of facing the most unbeatable major force golf has ever known for 18 more holes.

"I have nothing left right now. I'm toast," Mediate said in between gulps of air. "It was the most amazing day of golf I've ever experienced. Tomorrow is going to be pretty amazing, too, but today was absolutely remarkable. I've never been there like that before. And I just found out what it's all about."

Mediate has been a visible player in majors before. Just three years ago in Pinehurst he was the first-round leader in the U.S. Open. In 2006 at the Masters, he contended deep into the final round until his back started acting up and he melted down with a 10 on the par-3 12th hole to end his hopes. Through the years his name has popped up from time to time in the majors only to be foiled by a shortage of skill or a surplus of back pain.

But on this Sunday, the man who will turn 46 in December never wavered. He inherited the lead early when Woods and Lee Westwood stumbled out of the gate. Then he rallied at the turn with a birdie on the 10th hole and another on the drivable 14th hole that coincided with Woods' mental breakdown on the 13th hole that led to a bogey and two-shot swing. After missing a six-foot par putt on 15, Mediate steadily posted pars the rest of the way in and forced both Woods and Westwood to try to catch up. Woods did with a 15-footer on the 18th that shook the stage but not Mediate.

"I wanted to win today and I thought I had a pretty good shot at it," Mediate said. "And I made him do something today and he did it, which is amazing. He does it all the time. But he hadn't had to do that. I don't know if he's done it in a major before. But to hit it out where he hit it, out of the rough, and makes the putt. But I made him do that."