Nearly five years removed from his playoff loss to Tiger Woods at the 2008 U.S. Open, Rocco Mediate still remembers with vivid detail several of the shots and conversations that took place that fateful Monday in San Diego. During a recent episode of ‘Feherty,’ though, the six-time PGA Tour champion also recounted an interview request he made of Woods the following year that went largely unfulfilled.
According to Mediate, at the 2009 Players Championship he placed in Woods’ locker a picture of the two of them from the playoff, in addition to his copy of the pin sheet from the fifth day of competition at Torrey Pines. Mediate added a note, asking Woods to autograph them with a personalized inscription so that they could be added to his home collection.
‘Look, sign these for me, write something on there, personalize it and then sign the pin sheet,’ Mediate recalled of his request of Woods. ‘Because I’m going to put them on my wall somewhere.’
When Mediate returned to the locker room later that day, he found that Woods had returned the materials, but had not signed the pin sheet and had simply signed his name with no inscription to the picture of the two combatants. According to Mediate, he threw them in the trash.
‘That tells the story,’ he said. ‘Why wouldn’t he...just mess with me, and then sign my pin sheet, so I could put the damn thing on my wall and say, ‘I almost got the guy that day.’'
Despite the incident, Mediate explained that he considers himself a fan of Woods.
‘I’ve been a big fan of Tiger since I met him,’ he added. ‘I love the way he does his job. I don’t care what anybody thinks or anybody says; we ain’t gonna see this kid come about again.’
Click below for full video of Mediate recounting the story with Feherty:
