Since his entrance into the sports scene in 1996 with the words, "Hello, world," one player's name has dominated the game of golf. Tiger Woods has since won 65 PGA events and 14 major championships, in addition to being named PGA Player of the Year a record nine times. In the past few years, however, some have deemed Tiger to be a little too dominant for competition's sake. They say an opponent has never looked Woods in the eyes with the evident expression, "Tiger, I can BEAT you." Consequently, several questions have been raised: 1) Is Tiger really that good or are his opponents simply inadequate competition? 2) Is Tiger really clutch or has he never been forced to respond to an opponent's pressure? 3) Can Tiger be considered the most dominant athlete of our era if his peers have never challenged him?
This past week at the U.S. Open Championship at Torrey Pines, all those questions were answered.
Rocco Mediate, a 45-year-old nobody ranked 158th in the world, went 91 holes at the 2008 U.S. Open mano a mano with golf's greatest star. Sports fans received the drama-filled moment they had been waiting for since 1996 -- Tiger, albeit hampered by evident post-surgery knee problems, was finally stared down by an opponent on the golf course.
Mediate entered an 18-hole playoff with Tiger Woods on Monday, June 16 as an underdog. No one gave Rocco much of a shot at beating even an injured Tiger one-on-one. Down three strokes after 10 holes, Rocco appeared on the edge of crumbling beneath the pressure, and many were already preparring Tiger's coronation as U.S. Open champion once again. But Rocco did something few have ever done against Tiger. He put on the pressure.
After two pars by Mediate and consecutive bogeys by Tiger, the deficit was cut to a single stroke, and the true drama began to unfold. Rocco birdied the 13th and 14th holes to pull even with Woods, and the two players approached the 15th tee in a tie. After two shots from Rocco placed him a mere 20 feet from the hole, Woods' first shot in the adjacent hole's bunker, setting up a nearly impossible second shot from the sand. Tiger, backed into a corner and knowing that Rocco was near the hole, brushed aside the pain in his leg and drilled the ball 170 yards around a tree to within just eight feet of the pin.
In the past, several players have been tasked with responding to seemingly impossible "Tiger Shots" with tournaments on the line, and none have succeeded. No one has been able to step up.
No one, that is, until Rocco Mediate. Rocco stepped onto the green at the 15th hole and sunk his difficult, curving, 20-foot putt to birdie, and Tiger missed his shorter, easier putt and parred, giving Mediate a one-stroke lead heading into the final three holes.
Finally, a gripping face-off had been created, and the pressure was squarely on Tiger for the first time in years. Woods dramatically went on to birdie the final hole of the playoff to force sudden death, and he finally defeated Rocco on the 19th hole of the day with a par to Mediate's bogey, capping off one of the most spectacular victories in sports history. Rocco Mediate pushed golf's greatest to the limit, and an evidently pained Tiger Woods responded in breathtaking fashion.
After the U.S. Open ended, Tiger called the victory his greatest win ever. Woods had not played a round of golf for over two months after knee surgery, and he had not had time to peel off the rust before the U.S Open. The last time Tiger had taken off so much time before a major tournament, the 2006 U.S. Open, he did not make the cut. At the 2008 Open, after willing himself through not only the typical four rounds of golf, but FIVE rounds plus, the extent of Tiger's injury became known. Woods suffered a stress fracture in his left leg preparing for the Open. His doctors recommended that he immobilize the leg for at least five weeks before beginning rehab, thus suggesting his withdrawal from the approaching U.S. Open. In defiance, Tiger reportedly told the doctors, "I'm playing in the U.S. Open, and I'm going to win."
Against all odds, Tiger played, and Tiger won, cementing himself as one of the best athletes in sports history. I used to privately doubt Woods, suggesting that he has never been challenged, never pressured and, thus, never proven. But in 91 holes at Torrey Pines, a balding 45-year-old named Rocco pushed Tiger to the limit, and Tiger overcame surging competition, a fractured leg and the weight of a near impeccable golf record to win his 14th major championship. With it, Tiger won my vote as the most dominant athlete not only of our era, but of all time.
