LA JOLLA, Calif. — Nearing the conclusion of his post-final round news conference, Rocco Mediate looked up from his seat at the podium and espied an old friend lurking just outside the room.
Shaking a finger at Tiger Woods, Mediate intoned, “You better watch yourself tomorrow, pal.” Then, turning back to the assembled media, Mediate smiled.
“See, look,” he said. “He’s already a little nervous.”
For his part, Woods admitted that he was in the midst of a unique experience, which was perhaps something of an understatement. Woods’ perfect 13-0 record in major championships when holding at least a share of the third-round lead remains intact — for now — but only after the world’s top-ranked player made a 12-foot birdie putt Sunday on the final hole.
The stroke enabled Woods to match Mediate at 1-under-par 283 and gain a spot in an 18-hole playoff with the man ranked 157th in the world. Following a Sunday afternoon that defied convention, if not description, the duo will reconvene this morning at 10 a.m. at Torrey Pines Golf Course to finally decide the winner of the United States’ 108th national championship.
“He came up and said, ‘We have a game tomorrow,’ ” Mediate said. “I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll see you in the morning. I’ll see you in the morning, big man.’ ”
Very few envisioned Woods actually needing to go into overtime to secure his 14th major. For the longest time, the game’s biggest events have almost seemed his personal domain, a place where interlopers dare not tread.
The truth of that seemed clear even before Woods took his first shot. As he stood on the opening tee, a solitary figure walked down a bridge spanning the 18th hole — Justin Hicks, the Nationwide Tour player who, what seemed like an eternity ago, actually held a share of the opening-round lead.
But as Hicks looked on, Woods began his expected coronation like a man struggling to make even the rankest mini-tour. It took three shots for Woods to even get his ball inside the gallery that lined up on the left side of the fairway, and another two shots to reach the first green.
“And then I made a really solid 2-footer,” Woods said derisively of the final stroke of his double-bogey 6, the third time in four rounds he opened with that unthinkably crooked number.
A similarly careless mistake came on the 13th hole, when Woods’ second shot on the 614-yard, par-5 found a hazard, necessitating a drop that led to bogey.
At that point, Woods, who had managed to overcome his horrific start to take the lead, fell into a tie with Mediate, whose joyful countenance never flagged despite the inherent pressure. That happiness only increased when Mediate made a birdie on the 14th hole, giving him a one-stroke advantage that he carried until Woods — who admitted that he, for most of the day, was in extreme pain from his recent knee surgery — scrambled out of the right rough and made a stroke that evoked memories of the birdie putt he sank on the 72nd hole to extend the 2000 PGA Championship.
“It felt similar to Valhalla (the Kentucky venue that hosted that major),” Woods said. “If I don’t make that putt (Sunday), I don’t get to continue playing.”
This morning, Woods, whose intensity often has playing partners grinding their teeth even before their opening shots, and whose days then grow progressively worse under the weight of a steady barrage of silence, will have to drag his knee for a fifth day over 18 holes on a 7,643-yard, par-71 course.
And he’ll do it playing against a man who admittedly doesn’t know when — or how — to brake his nonstop streams of consciousness.
“I won’t bother anybody — I don’t do that — but I’ll talk,” Mediate said. “Tiger will talk a bit. He’ll have no choice.”
One of the things Mediate said earlier in the week — and really, what didn’t he say? — was that he wanted to play in the final group with Woods with the championship on the line. Sunday, he insisted that that desire wasn’t merely a case of wanting to be an up-close and personal witness to Woods’ ongoing climb into the history books.
“To go up against the best player in the world and have a chance to beat him, there’s nothing else you can ask for, period,” Mediate said. “Of course I want to win. Of course I do. I wanted to win today and I thought I had a pretty good shot at it. But I made him do something today and he did it, which is amazing. He does it all the time.
“But I made him do that. . . . The competitiveness, of course I’m going to try to win (today). He wants to kill me. I want to kill him. That’s just how it is.”
Then, for about the 10,000th time over the past four days, Mediate smiled. “But it’s going to be a very entertaining day,” he said. “I can assure you of that.”
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com
Tiger Woods
32 years old, 13 majors, 64 PGA Tour wins
Strength: Woods can once again seal the deal in a major championship playoff. He is 2-0 (2000 PGA Championship and 2005 Masters.)
Weakness: Woods, who admitted Sunday his surgically repaired knee is bothering him, has to play 18 more holes today.
Strategy against Mediate: Mediate has long admitted being in awe of Woods. If Tiger can avoid another double bogey, perhaps even birdie the opening hole, Mediate might be content to just tag along and watch the greatness.
Rocco Mediate
45 years old, zero majors, five wins
Strength: After struggling with back pain for years, Mediate is just happy to be here and knows he has nothing to lose.
Weakness: Happiness doesn’t get you 30 to 40 more yards off the tee, which is how far Woods will outdrive him on most holes.
Strategy against Woods: It’s doubtful the gregarious Mediate will be able to yap at Woods enough to get Woods off his game. So he will have to settle for trying to not get caught up with matching his opponent’s power and try to be more consistent than Woods.
