Swamigp’s Weblog

Rocco Mediate became a crowd favorite and a unlikely contender during this last weeks U.S. Open at Torry Pines. He was grateful for the opportunity to play with the game best player, Tiger Woods. The only thing he would need to complete this brilliant reality was to actually win the tournament. Rocco had as much of a chance as Tiger during Monday’s playoff, especially with Woods’s left knee barking at him. He proved everyone wrong who thought he didn’t have a shot to keep up with Tiger, but in the end lost the U.S. Open on the 19th hole. His play was very impressive, as he was the 158th ranked player in the world. He just happened to run into the best golfer of this, or any, generation.

The playoff was a classic, as the two golfers went back and forth throughout. Neither were spectacular, as the course was playing really tough, but both held up quite well. Tiger seemed to pull away when he gained a three shot lead ( E-+3) after the 10th hole. Rocco seemed doomed at that point, but there was a lot of golf to be played, and he made the most of it. Rocco climbed back into the match, and had a chance to win the tournament with a putt on the 18th hole, but pulled it. Tiger tied Rocco in the 18 hole playoff after being down by one heading to the 18th. Rocco’s chance was gone, as he made some poor shots on the extra hole.

Mediate could have been the oldest player ever to win the U.S. Open, but instead watched Tiger Woods celebrate his 14th major title, and his 7th win on the course. Before the tournament began Rocco’s name wasn’t even close to someone who would have had a shot at the title, but played very well over the 91 holes of golf t become more than just a contender. Though his name won’t be etched into the trophy, his effort and personality won’t be forgotten. He almost conquered the “planets best”, as one commentator put it, and sometimes that is enough.

Annika Sorenstam, citing personal reasons, has decided to retire from competitive golf at season’s end. The #2 player in the world won 72 tournaments in her professional golf career, and was the face of the womens’s tour for over a decade. Being the face of the tour for so many years, her announcement at the age of 37 was shocking to some of her competitors, and even Tiger Woods who said it was “sad to see her walk away from the game.” Annika is third on the all time wins list in LPGA Tour history, 16 behind Kathy Witworth. Sorenstam won 10 majors and 7 Player of the Year awards after breaking into the sport on the professional circuit in 1993 at the age of 23. Though she played in three events on the LPGA Tour in her rookie season, she played primarily in the Ladies European Tour, winning their title for Rookie of the Year. Throughout the rest of the nineties, she won countless money titles and accounted for the most wins of the decade.

Annika, though still dominant, lost the #1 in the world title in 2002 to Karrie Webb. After Webb won 8 tournaments in 2001, Sorenstam answered with 11 LPGA Tour victories in the 2002 season, regaining the number 1 spot. One the most memorable moments of Sorenstam’s career came in 2003 when she laced em up with the men in the Colonial. Although she finished 96th and missed the cut, it was a big step for women golfers in the profession as well as women altogether. She gathered her 7th Player of the Year award in 2004, winning 10 tournaments, including two international events. She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2003.

Tiger Woods (-10) won his fifth straight PGA tour event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, in dramatic fashion, continuing his clutch play by sinking a 25 footer on the 18th hole for the victory. Once Tiger Woods sunk the winning putt to beat Bart Bryant (-9), Arnold Palmer, the host and golf legend, wasn’t surprised at Tiger’s wild finish. Tiger Woods was jubilant after he sunk the winning putt, leaving Bart Bryant just shaking his head while watching the finish in the clubhouse. Bryant shot a 67 in the final round to keep pace, but it wasn’t enough as Tiger worked his magic yet again. Sean O’Hair (-8), who played alongside Woods in the final round, couldn’t completely overcome a slow start to the round to make a full comeback against the top player in the world.  To be in the position to make the winning putt, Woods hit a 164 yard, 5 iron into a strong breeze within 25 feet to set up the dramatic conclusion to yet another victory. With the win Tiger Woods tied Ben Hogan for the third most wins in PGA tour history with 64. With the win Woods also came closer to passing Jack Nicklaus, who has 73 career victories, for second on the all-time wins list.