By MARK CANNIZZARO
Last updated: 8:13 pm
June 27, 2008
Posted: 3:36 am
June 16, 2008
SAN DIEGO - First, the Patriots lost a Super Bowl few believed it was possible for them to lose after carving out a perfect 17-0 record.
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Then Big Brown, whose windbag trainer guaranteed to the world that his horse was the greatest, most unbeatable horse this side of Secretariat, finished last in the Belmont Stakes.
And now this: Tiger Woods failed to win the U.S. Open yesterday before 55,000 disbelieving eyes at Torrey Pines South.
Woods failed to win a major championship in which he owned the lead entering the fourth round, something he had done successfully in all 13 career major championships he has won.
That, however, isn't the end of the story.
What Woods did was, after a day of struggling mightily with his game and his surgically repaired left knee, put on one of the most scintillating Sunday finishes in U.S. Open history, forcing a playoff with a scrambling birdie on the final hole to tie Rocco Mediate.
The two will tee it up at noon EDT today and play 18 holes to the finish.
"I'm play ing against a monster (this) morn ing," Medi ate said. "This week has been a total dream."
The theater on the final few holes of the fourth round was positively pulsating. It appeared the 45-year-old Mediate would become the oldest U.S. Open champion in the 108-year history of the tournament and the oldest first-time major winner ever.
Mediate, who shot a final-round 71 while playing in the group in front of Woods, watched in agony as Woods drained his 12-foot birdie putt on 18 and went ballistic along with the throng of fans surrounding the green.
"Unbelievable," Mediate said as soon as the putt curled into the hole from the right edge of the cup. "I knew he'd make it. I knew it. He's Tiger Woods. That's what he does."
Woods described his feeling on 18 simply.
"Hey, we got one more day," he said. "I gave myself a chance. Looked like I was playing myself out of the tournament.
"If I don't make that putt I don't get to continue playing. At least I gave myself a chance to win the tournament (today). That's all I can ask for."
That Woods, who shot 73 yesterday, made that final putt was remarkable, because he was not making any putts all day.
"It was a wobbly down there, a little bouncy," he said of the bumpy green. "It was like playing (the Price is Right game) Plinko."
After a third round in which Woods put together a highlight reel with two eagles and a chip-in birdie on the back nine, the fourth round was eerily quiet for most of the day around Woods, because he seemed to be flush out of heroics.
Nevertheless, after finishing with a par on No. 18 to complete his round at 71 and finish at 1-under, Mediate - and the rest of the world - had to sit and watch Woods and Lee Westwood, both at even par, play 18 with a chance to send the tournament to a playoff.
Woods and Westwood sent their tee shots into fairway bunkers, taking potential tournament-winning eagles out of play.
Once on the green, Westwood had an 18-footer above the hole for birdie, but he slid it just right of the hole and was eliminated.
Then Woods, after stalking the putt from all angles, stepped up, gave it a rap and made it - by the sliver of the right edge of the hole.
Mediate smiled when the ball went in and, moments later he and Woods had a nice exchange near the clubhouse.
Asked how badly he wants to win today, Mediate said: "It would be the story of my life, I can tell you that."
