Tiger Woods continues his masterful effort in the clutch, sinking a birdie on the 18th hole at the U.S. Open to force a sudden death with Rocco Mediate on Monday.
Mediate birdied holes 13, 14 and 15 to pull ahead of Woods by one stroke, but Tiger birdied the final two holes as Mediate pared, forcing the second playoff.
Here’s how the scoring broke down in the 18-hole playoff.
After the first nine holes in the 18-hole playoff Monday, Tiger Woods has a two-point lead over Rocco Mediate at the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Woods shot an even par at 35 in the first nine, while Mediate shot two over at 37.
Tiger is going to be awfully tough to beat in the final nine. Of course, he’ll probably screw the pooch for the first two holes before rebounding and winning it close.
More to follow…
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.
John Hawkins of Golf Digest isn’t too fond of Chris Berman doing live coverage of the U.S. Open Championship, which kicks off Thursday and runs through Father’s Day weekend.
But Chris Berman? He’s part of the program, too. In ESPN’s 18 hours of Thursday-Friday coverage, maybe half will be anchored by a rumblin’, bumblin’, stumblin’ earsore whose knowledge of pro golf is either severely impaired or on extended vacation. The nicknames. The clichés. The thousands of words spoken without a gram of true insight.
Isn’t this the same network that employs Mike Tirico, whose polish and knowledge suggest he was born with a microphone clipped to his lapel? Tirico handled the first two rounds of the Masters for ESPN. Is he doing pay-per-view from Torrey Pines? Is it less than $100 per hour? Where do I sign up?
I read that Berman views himself as sort of an everyman this week, telling the San Diego Union-Tribune, “I’m trying to be me and have a good time with it as someone who’s an avid follower of the game, like most of the audience. A 16 handicap, give or take, not a 3 or a scratch.” Some attempts at logic are frightening; others defy the principles of credibility that defend TV’s role as society’s most powerful medium.
Berman’s perspective captures the worst of both worlds. It’s not that a 16 handicap shouldn’t do live TV at the Open. Tirico isn’t much of a golfer—he’s too busy grinding over a stack of notes to shoot 73. With Berman, the five layers of shtick seem to camouflage a lack of preparation, proof that some disguises are better than others.
The ironic part is that at the top of Hawkins’ article reads: Golf World, in Partnership with ESPN. (ESPN obviously employees Berman.)
I’ve been saying it for two years – Berman is a shell of his former self. Worse yet, it’s apparent by his delivery that he still feels his shtick is working. He’s so over the top he makes Tom Cruise not seem like an over-actor.
TheLoveOfSports.com ranks the top 15 best movie quotes.
13. Major League (1989) – (13a) – Willie: “Willie Mays Hayes here. I hit like Mayes, and I run like Hayes.” – Coach: “You may run like Hayes, but you hit like shit.” – (13b) – “Juuuuust a bit outside.” – (13c) – “Up your butt, Jobu.”
6. Bull Durham (1988) – (6a) “I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents on Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.” – (6b) – “Relax, all right? Don’t try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they’re fascist. Throw some groundballs. It’s more democratic.”
1. Caddyshack (1980) – (1a) – “I hear this place is restricted, Wang, so don’t tell ‘em you’re Jewish, OK? All right.” – (1b) – “You’ll get nothing and like it.” – (1c) – “This is a hybrid. This is a cross, ahhh, Bluegrass, Kentucky Bluegrass, Featherbed Bent and Northern California Sensemilia. The amazing stuff about this is, that you can play 36 holes on it in the afternoon, take it home and just get stoned to the bejeezus-belt that night on this stuff. Here, I’ve got pounds of this.” – (1d) – “This crowd has gone deathly silent, the Cinderella story, outta nowhere, a former greenskeeper, now – about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mira….. It’s in the hole!”
Not that I have a problem with the lines they chose, but they went a little too mainstream in my opinion. For example, these lines in Major League were funnier to me than the ones they chose:
Harris: “You trying to tell me Jesus Christ can’t hit a curve ball?”
Lou Brown: “Nice catch Hayes – don’t ever fucking do it again.”
Taylor: “Who’s that guy she’s with?”
Vaughn: “You want me to drag him outta here – kick the shit out of him?”
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