Tiger Woods forced a playoff with Rocco Mediate by sinking a 12-foot birdie put on the 18th hole at the U.S. Open Sunday.
“I was planning on going to Mexico,” Woods said when asked where he was originally headed today.
Not now.
Woods slithered a 12-foot birdie putt into the right side of the cup at No. 18 to pull even with Mediate on Sunday’s 72nd hole and force one extra day of adrenaline at Torrey Pines.
Woods and Mediate finished one-under 283 overall.
Lee Westwood’s two-over-par 73 left him one shot out of the party and sent him home at even-par 284. Robert Karlsson and D.J. Trahan finished three shots back at two-over 286. They are all footnotes now.
Woods had lost the one-shot lead he took into Sunday, struggled to a two-over 72, struggled with his driver and with his putting.
But he made the putt he had to make when he had to make it.
“I made him do something amazing today, which is amazing,” Mediate said of the putt. “He does it all the time . . . but I made him do that.”
The U.S. Open is the only one of the four majors that requires an extra 18 holes to determine its champion, like it or not.
It’s almost like Tiger is just playing with everybody. You can tell that his knee is bothering him, yet he still manages to make the clutch shots down the stretch. How can he look so bad on the opening holes yet so masterful the rest of the way? Nothing fazes him.
You can follow Monday’s playoff via ESPN.com’s live blog.
