Mediate wants Tiger Woods: Why not?
AKRON, Ohio - Rocco Mediate came into the interview room at Firestone, looked over the 10 media types in front of him, scanned the other 88 empty seats, and announced: “We're not starting till the other seats are filled.”When the snickers had subsided, he relented and decided to get on with his interview, which was, first, a celebration of the 2-under 68 he'd just shot at Firestone South in the opening round of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, and second, another chance to talk to a captive audience. And for all those who might think Mediate was somehow diminished by his disappointment at losing to Tiger Woods in a playoff for the U.S. Open just over a month ago, or diminished by his strong but failed pass at the British Open two weeks ago - well, raise your sights.
It will be recalled that Mediate was ranked 158th in the world at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, and had not played all that much, coming out of that bad back, and that Tiger Woods was No. 1. (Still, of course.) And that the U.S. Open decides ties by the old-fashioned 18-hole playoff, which then became his Old Vic, his world stage. No vote had to be taken anywhere on what chance Mediate had in this duel. He even fell three behind at mid-round. Yet they tied after the 18 holes, and Woods beat him on the 19th in sudden-death. Mediate was no whipped puppy, going in or coming out.
“The thing I liked about it was 18 holes,” he said. “It wasn't four [holes] or sudden-death. It was 18 holes and a night to think about it. I thought I wanted that - to have the stage and see what I could do on that stage. Whether I lost, I didn't care. Did I have anything to lose? Yeah - I had to U.S. Open to lose. It wasn't like, la-la-la, I'll just watch Tiger beat me up.”
Mediate does have a way about him. He does speak his mind, but he does speak sense. Other golfers have angered Tiger Woods for having the audacity or the presumptuousness of saying the think they could beat him. Mediate gives Woods his due - he's the best, etc., etc. But he also thinks he can beat Woods. Else why is he out there? At the very least, he wants the chance.
“Why wouldn't I want that?” Mediate said. “I don't understand why people would be scared, worried: I'm going to lose. I can't believe he made that putt. Why didn't I make another putt?
“Yeah, I did all I could. I would have loved to have birdied 18 and won outright. But so would he. I wanted that to happen. I enjoyed it. What scares me the most is the way I react to shots, and laughing and talking. That scares me a little bit. Because why wouldn't you do that? I don't understand. It doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever.”
Someone wondered how it was that he could feel this way.
“Golf-wise, I have absolutely no idea what that is,” he said. “Because if I was anybody - if I was one of the top 10 players in the world - I would want him as often as I could get to play him. l'm probably going to lose most of the time. So what?
“I want to see what I've got, because all that's going to happen is to see whether I could perform to the best of my ability in front of a billion, zillion people, him, and 27,000 people watching just us two play golf. Can I do that? I got to see it. “
Maybe getting into the ring with Ali would suicide. Or getting on the court against Federer. Or going head-to-head with Tiger Woods. Suicide is probably the conventional belief. But contrary to conventional belief, Mediate did not find himself in a cauldron. He was not a circuit of overheated nerves waiting to blow. He found himself on a golf course, having a hell of a good time.
It wasn't always so. Time was when Mediate was trying to play golf with a fragmented disk or two in his back, when he looked as though he were walking on broken glass. There was the elaborate surgery, the wracking rehabilitation.
Ah, but in those times when the back felt good, Mediate was on the golf course having a hell of a good time. With Tiger Woods or without.
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