It is not commonly known but fellow American Rocco Mediate was Tiger Woods opponent when Woods six years ago captured a 14th and his last Major Championship.
Mediate tied Woods in regulation play at the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines in California and then he and Woods were tied after Monday’s 18-hole play-off before Woods won in sudden-death at the first extra hole, and the 91st of the tournament.
Woods competed virtually on one leg as he struggled with pain that week, and it was not surprising he took an extended break from the game that included ruling himself out of the Ryder Cup later that season.
And in ‘being sick to the stomach’ watching what Woods has endured injury-wise in his past two events, withdrawing the Bridgestone Invitational and missing the cut in last week’s PGA Championship, Mediate, ahead of this week’s $5.3m Wyndham Championship that he won in 1993 and 2002, has some timely advice for new four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy.
Rocco Mediate took Tiger Woods 91 holes before losing to the then new 14-time Major Winner.
“If you look at Rory’s motion and action right now, it’s technically perfect,” said Mediate.
“Tiger was like that in the early 2000s, he was perfect and nothing was really wrong with him.
“All of a sudden, when guys start making swing changes as Tiger did, things start to go and it’s like wait a minute here, what are you doing to me? And they snap.
“Unfortunately, a quick injury like that can take years to heal.
“But it just makes me sick to the stomach to watch Tiger because I know how he feels. I was never that kind of player, obviously, but I know what he’s going through, and it’s awful.
“There is nothing worse than a back injury because you can’t do what you want to do.”
And with a cloud again hanging over the immediate playing future of Woods, the now 51-year old Mediate sees the 25-year old McIlroy dominating and leading the PGA Tour into the 2020s
“What Rory is doing in helping the PGA Tour’s cause,” he said.
“It’s great to have a front-running guy that is heads and shoulders above most players. No disrespect to anybody else, but Tiger was that way for 12, 13, 14 years or more. And Rory looks like he wants that deal now.
“He’s just shown us a few things this last few weeks that were ridiculous. So if he keeps up that pace or anything close to that pace, then maybe for something like 10 years, then we’ll be talking about him going ahead of everybody else.
“Of course, we don’t know that but it looks like that now.”
And Mediate believes that while those playing against Woods disliked Woods dominating the game, the now Champions Tour player believes Woods has ensured otherwise reasonable careers for the rank-and-file PGA Tour pros.
“A lot of guys didn’t like it when Tiger was winning every other time he played and including all the majors but then I didn’t mind that,” said Mediate.
“Seeing Tiger winning all the time made me want to work harder. It made me want to get better, and I’m not even close to what the top players were doing out there.
“Phil’s (Mickelson) done really well. Phil’s won five Majors. There’s other guys out there have had pretty darn good careers thanks to Tiger over the years. It’s been like that in our sport. It could have been someone else but it was him.”
