PHOENIX — The over-under on the number of questions that Rocco Mediate gets asked in any media scrum before the 2008 U.S. Open comes up is probably four.
Yes, 16 years later and the showdown against Tiger Woods remains a topic of conversation. Good thing Mediate still likes to entertain the subject.
At Phoenix Country Club during a media day on Monday to preview the 2024 Charles Schwab Cup Championship, Mediate, 61, was asked if that Open experience is as memorable as his 12 wins (six on PGA Tour, six on PGA Tour Champions). He didn’t hesitate.
“Oh, gosh yea. It is,” he said before adding, “the most memorable win was the Fry’s two years after. If the Open was the last thing, OK, it was awesome.
“But I won again after that and that really made me happy, you know, that I won another tournament, which was cool. But no, the Open, I have no … you know if I had three-putted from three feet to lose, it probably wouldn’t be OK to talk about it but that didn’t happen, so. When you lose something and get beat, you get beat. There’s nothing else you can really say. It was awful fun trying.
“That was the most fun I’ve ever had playing golf. For sure. Bar none. I wish I could do it again.”
Mediate and Woods ended up in an 18-hole playoff that Sunday at Torrey Pines and even that wasn’t enough to decide things. Mediate eventually succumed to Woods on the first playoff hole of sudden death.
But as soon as Mediate said “I wish I could do it again,” he quickly mentioned how there are no more 18-hole playoffs at the U.S. Open. In 2018, the USGA switched to a two-hole aggregate format, followed by sudden death.
Mediate says that’s just wrong.
“The 18 hole playoffs are over. Which is ridiculous. Every major should be an 18-hole playoff. And if you tie, it should be 18 more. It’s a major. It’s not a normal event.”
Are you serious about that, he was asked?
“100 percent serious. 100 percent serious. ‘Oh but TV’. I don’t care about TV. I want the trophy,” he said. “Sudden death at Augusta National? What? The Masters, we’re just going to have one hole? TV? Not concerned.”
Mediate is 20th in the Schwab Cup standings, plenty good enough to make the 36-man field at the 2024 season finale.