U.S. Open playoff: Tiger Woods two ahead of Rocco Mediate after seven
U.S. OPEN
A hole-by-hole account of today's 18-hole playoff at Torrey Pines to determine the champion of the 108th U.S. Open.
No. 7, Par 4, 461 yards. Woods one under par, Mediate one over.
Woods splits the fairway with his drive; Mediate's ball edges into the right rough but is sitting up. Mediate hits his second shot pin high, about 25 feet to the right. Woods, from 145 yards, is swinging well without any apparent discomfort in his surgically repaired left knee and knocks his shots to about 12 feet. Mediate leaves his birdie effort four inches short, then Woods drills in his straight birdie putt to suddenly take a two-stroke lead.
Factoid: Sunday's overnight rating on NBC was an 8.5, up 21.4% from last year.
No. 6, Par 4, 515 yards. Woods even par, Mediate one over.
Both players hit the fairway on this long par four, Woods about 25 yards farther. Neither player birdied this hole during the first four rounds. Mediate runs his second shot to the back right fringe, about 75 feet from the pin, which is front left. Woods then hits an eight-iron to about five feet. Mediate's chip breaks about 15 feet from left to right to leaves him with a six-foot par putt. Woods curls in his birdie putt and Mediate saves par.
Factoid: Eddie Merrins, the "Little Pro" and professional emeritus at Bel-Air Country Clulb, is working with Mediate this week.
No. 5, Par 4, 453 yards. Woods one over, Mediate one over.
Woods takes the advantage. After Mediate pushes his drive into the the right fairway bunker, Woods splits the fairway. Woods then puts his second shot 25 feet to the left of the pin. Mediate blasts from the bunker and pulls his shot way left. It takes two huge hops off the cart path and leaves him with a tricky pitch to the green from the matted straw. He hits an exceptional shot to about 10 feet but narrowly misses the par putt. Woods makes his par to square the match.
Factoid: Mediate finished 600th out of 5,619 entrants in the World Series of Poker in 2005.
No. 4, Par 4, 488 yards. Mediate even par, Woods one over.
Mediate drives into the left rough, and Woods follows him. Woods hits first and pulls his second shot in to the left rough 40 yards short of the pin. Mediate finds the putting surface about 35 feet under the pin. Woods pitches to about a foot for a virtually automatic par. Mediate's birdie effort slides past on the left, but he rams in the three-footer for par.
