Drama Major
Hurt Knee and All, Woods Outlasts Mediate in Playoff

By Leonard Shapiro
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 17, 2008

SAN DIEGO, June 16 -- With an injured knee and his usual insatiable will to win, Tiger Woods needed 91 holes to claim the 108th U.S. Open championship and 14th major title of his storied career Monday at Torrey Pines South.

After one last tap-in putt for par on the first hole of sudden death against his friend and bulldog foe over 19 holes in a stirring playoff witnessed by more than 24,000 spectators, Woods finally was able to subdue Rocco Mediate when the 45-year-old veteran missed his own 20-foot putt for par.

"All week, I just happened to get off to such slow starts and just had to keep battling back and battle back and battle back," Woods said after his 65th PGA Tour victory, 17 short of the all-time record 82 held by Sam Snead. "Today was just another example of that."

When Mediate missed that last attempt to extend their mesmerizing match, the two men hugged on the seventh green -- the first hole for the sudden-death portion of the playoff -- and Woods told him "great fight."

Woods, who earned $1.35 million, also had fought all week against the pain in his left knee, surgically repaired eight weeks earlier, two days after he finished second at the Masters. The Open was his first tournament since the April 15 operation, and he said afterward it may be his last for a while, though he didn't specify how long he would "shut it down."

"I'm not really good at listening to doctor's orders too well," he said in response to a question about the possible long-term ramifications of his third knee operation since 1994. "Hey, I won this week."

Asked specifically if his doctors had told him he could further injure his knee by playing in the Open, Woods smiled and nodded his head yes, with no verbal comment.

And did he injure himself over the last five days and 91 holes of golf?

"Maybe."

This also was a fabulous fight Woods very nearly lost on the 18th hole only 20 minutes earlier, despite opening up a three-shot lead through the first 10 holes, only to watch Mediate rally with three straight birdies starting at the 614-yard 13th hole. With an 18-foot birdie putt at the 478-yard 15th hole, Mediate actually had a one-shot lead with three to play, and maintained that advantage as both men stepped to the tee box at the 573-yard 18th hole, set up specifically by the United States Golf Association in hopes of creating high drama every day at the short par-5 finishing hole.

Clearly, that was mission accomplished. Woods had made a stunning 12-foot putt at the same hole on Sunday to get into the playoff and prevent Mediate from becoming the oldest champion in Open history. And once again, Woods dashed those hopes Monday with more heroics at the same hole.

Mediate, for the third time in the tournament, put his tee shot in the left fairway bunker, ending any chance that he would try to reach the green in two shots. He was forced to lay up in the fairway, and his third shot left him with a treacherous 30-foot birdie putt.

Woods took out his driver at 18, knowing he needed birdie or better to either tie or beat Mediate. He smacked a 320-yard tee shot, accompanied by a visible grimace from the pain in his left knee. His ball landed softly in the fairway, leaving him 214 yards to the flag.

His second-shot 4-iron started out left over the water fronting the green and cut back toward the putting surface, producing a 50-foot eagle putt he actually ran four feet past the hole. Mediate then lined up his own 30-foot birdie putt that could have ended the suspense once and for all.

"You've waited your whole life for it," Mediate said, "and I wasn't going to lag it."

But he also missed, and ran his ball three feet past the cup. Woods putted first for birdie, and with a pure stroke knocked that four-footer in the center of the cup. Then came Mediate, needing to make his tricky three-foot slider for par to advance the match into automatic sudden death. There was no question about that putt, either -- dead solid perfect and into the hole.

"I handled it," Mediate said. "I was nervous as a cat, but I handled it."

Both men shot even-par 71 in regulation, and sudden death began at the 461-yard No. 7, a hole Woods had birdied earlier in the day with a 12-foot putt. Once again, he took out his driver and cut the corner of the dogleg right hole, landing in the fairway up against the first cut of rough down the right side. Mediate, who made par there earlier, put his drive in a fairway bunker, then sprayed his second shot from the sand dead left toward a spectator grandstand.

He got a free drop there, hit his third to within 20 feet, but could not convert the par putt, ending a chance for what might have been the greatest upset in U.S. Open history, considering he was ranked No. 158 in the world and had to survive an 11-man playoff in qualifying two weeks earlier just to get into the field.

It also allowed Woods to win his 14th major, four short of Jack Nicklaus's record, and keep alive his streak of never having lost a major after sharing the lead, or holding it outright, at the end of 54 holes.

"Truthfully, I'm a disappointed a little that I didn't beat him," Mediate said. "Just disappointed, not upset. But I'm obviously a little beat up right now. The only thing I take from this is that I gave him the best that I had and it wasn't quite good enough. It wasn't like I got my butt handed to me today. . . . I think he enjoyed the [heck] out of the competition, and I certainly did. I know that I still can do this stuff and want to try that again some time, somewhere."

Woods was proud of himself this week for also battling back from so many poor starts. He played the first hole over the four regular rounds in 7 over, with three double bogeys and a bogey. When he put his opening drive in the playoff in the fairway, he actually raised his arms in mock triumph.

"Yeah, I had such great starts this week," he said. "I had four doubles, three eagles, a few three-putts, a couple of snipes off the tees, a couple of slices, some bombs, anything and everything happened this week, really. All those ups and downs and I ended up being 1 under par for 91 holes."

He also said he never once thought about withdrawing, despite all the wincing, grimacing and limping and a left knee that got more sore with each passing day, despite frequent icing and over-the-counter painkillers.

"I wasn't going to bag it," he said. "I think everyone knows me well enough that it's not my nature. I don't know how to do that. It helped to have that energy from all the fans. You always try to use everything to your advantage. I try to do the best I could. It's been sore every day. It's been sore for a while. I just deal with it."