Tiger Woods changed everything. When I was growing up, I spent Saturday and Sunday afternoons on the couch with my father and as it should be, he controlled the clicker. I admired his timing as he flipped between the day's sporting events and I rarely complained. The truth is I saved all my groans, moans and veto power for when the channel changed to golf.
A decade and a half later, I've included two golf tournaments in my top five sports moments of the year. Tiger changed everything.
He took a sport that repressed every competitive emotion and expressed it through screams and fist-pumps. He took the lamest wardrobe in the history of civilization and made it over into Nike style that we'd all kill to wear. And he took the game of fairways and greens and "I just play the course not my opponent" and turned into all out psychological warfare where he mentally distructs his opponent by the mere shadow of his presence.
It's the last of these three changes that describes his career in major tournaments, the only ones that count for El Tigre. Woods has never lost a major with a 54-hole lead. In fact, if he has the lead after the first 18, it's pretty much a glorified exhibition after that. Other than someone named Bob May, Woods has never really been pushed on Sunday of a major with a lead.
But this was not your average Sunday at the U.S. Open. Tiger was hurt. How hurt? Not so hurt that he could not put together a magical string of shots to close his back 9 Saturday. But hurt enough that he limped and grimaced away his lead in the blinking of an eye on Sunday morning.
Of course, he gave his lead to Rocco Mediate. Now most people will say that they never heard of Rocco before this year, but I knew exactly who he was. If there is one thing I have learned from watching golf with my father, it's that there are Thursday through Saturday golfers and then there are Sunday golfers. "The Rock" fell into that first category. He'd pop up all the time on the leaderboard early in a big tournament, but he'd disappear when it counted.
So Rocco was in front and Tiger was on the trail, but my concerns were that Tiger's knee would keep him from making a charge and not that Mediate would run away with it.
But even more interesting than the golf was the perception of the golfers. Remember Tiger changed everything, so two-thirds of the people in the massive galleries for the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines showed up to see one man, but they were getting pretty "bromantic" over another. Rocco filled that "Joe the Golfer" void that people in this country seem to crave. He is gregarious, lighthearted and seems to be on the same diet and exercise plan as the people watching him. He also seemed to relish Tiger's spotlight and not cower in his wake.
So there they were, the Prince and Shrek going shot-for-shot and the fans decided that maybe for one day, it might not be that bad if Shrek won. I think they all would have switched, but Tiger was in so much pain that the crowd was trying to lift up their fallen hero as well. Put it all together and it was an emotional Sunday!
This had all the makings for a great sports movie, but it needed a classic ending. In real life, these things tend to end with a bogey or a wayward drive that keeps the comeback from reaching its fruition, but this was a cinematic kind of weekend. Tiger was a stroke behind and had set himself up for a makeable, but missable putt to tie Rocco and send it to an 18-hole playoff.
As luck would have it, my buddy Bootsy was in L.A. at the time. Great moments in sports, as in life, are meant to be shared and we had sweat through every shot of this Sunday drama. Bootsy thought Tiger would miss. I said he would make it. In truth, I think Bootsy said he would miss it just to temper his expectations and maybe set off a reverse jinx by being negative. He said he would miss, but would he have bet against him? I defiantly said he would make it, but I did not believe it nearly as much as I was letting on. I just wanted him to make it so bad.
He made it. He's Tiger Woods for crying out loud. What'd you expect?
Rocco was caught on camera saying something similar and if you had polled every member of the gallery, 99.9% would have said that Mediate's tournament was over. The .1% would be Rocco's family, which I just realized could be called the immediate Mediates.
It was a great run, but nobody looks Tiger in the eyes for 18 holes and lives to tell about it.
Bootsy and I were camped out for the first tee shot on Monday. People complain about the 18-hole playoff because it takes place on Monday morning, but it's pretty awesome if you have the day off. We were not going to miss a shot.
It started just like Sunday with Woods looking as creaky as an old wooden boat and Rocco sailing along like a...I don't know..I'm not much for the nautical metaphors. Anyway, Tiger was in trouble, but by now we had realized that he just needed some time to loosen up and have the pain medication kick in.
It did and then he blew right past Rocco. Eldrick had a three stroke lead at one point and the engraver was working on his T. But here comes Rocco "carpe diem-ing" and storming back to (gasp) take the lead from Tiger going to the 18th. Tiger has been around for a decade or so now and nobody has done this to him. I mean nobody. It was inconceivable!
And there we were again, Tiger having a putt to tie and send it to extra holes. Bootsy was on board now, this putt was going in. It did and on we go.
It was time for Rocco to blink. And he did and Tiger won. 91 holes of golf that was as perfect as the San Diego weather it was played in.
In the wake of this incredible achievement, Tiger's legend grew to new heights when it was revealed that he persevered through a brutal Open set-up and his toughest competitor, while playing on a torn ACL and a broken leg. Ridonculous! (It's Bootsy's word, but it works here)
Rocco never built on the momentum and maybe he never will. It's Tiger's world and it's hard to stand out when he's around.
We all thought that no one could stick with Tiger on the closing nine of a major, but for one Sunday and even a Monday...Rocco changed everything.
