Well the big Tiger/Phil match up pretty much fizzled out. Mostly because Phil fizzled out. Tiger has far from fizzled. Have you been watching? It’s been great. Really. In spite of Johnny Miller. Rocco Mediate was in front all day yesterday, until the 15th hole, which he double bogied. Lee Westwood played a very consistent round all day and when Rocco started falling apart Lee was in first place when he finished his round. That lasted for about 10 minutes. Because then there was Tiger. Not a great round. And the knee was obviously bothering him. When he stepped up to the 13th tee he was 5 shots behind Rocco. He made an amazing putt on 13 for an eagle, which put him 3 shots behind Rocco. He bogied 14, which put him 4 back. And at this point he is grimacing with pain after his tee shots, and hitting other shots that don’t require putting pressure on his left knee. He managed to pull out pars on both 15 and 16. Then on the par 3 17th he hit an errant tee-shot ( once again grimacing because of the knee ) which ended up in the rough, on a slope, next to the green. At which point people are thinking he’ll be lucky to get par. But he hit this fantastic shot out which hit the flag stick and dropped into the hole. It was unbelievable. Even Tiger was laughing. So at this point Lee Westwood is in the club house at -2, Tiger is heading for 18 at -1, and Rocco is at 17 at even par. On the 18th Tiger is on the green in two with a long downhill putt, which no one in their right mind thinks he can make. But he does. Just amazing. Did you see the crowd? Dead silence as everyone watches the ball roll down towards the hole, then they start to stand up to see better, then there is this huge cheer. So Tiger finishes, limping, at -3 and goes to the clubhouse in first. Rocco manages to hold it together and is still at even par when he steps up for his first putt, for a birdie, on 18, At which point he asks one of the announcers close to him, ‘If I make this putt will I be in the final group with Tiger?’ The answer was no. And he was disappointed. He really wanted to play with Tiger. He ended up missing the birdie putt and finishing the day in third place, at even par. So, final group today is a limping Tiger, and Lee Westwood. And Rocco will be in the next to last group. Which is too bad. A Tiger-Rocco pairing would have been great. Rocco is one of those journeyman players. Been on the tour for years, but never really contending. But Rocco is a very animated guy, especially for a golfer. And in a good way, not in the snarky Rory Sabatini way. Most of the tour pros are pretty taciturn during interviews. They smile, and tell a few jokes. Little laugh here and there. But they don’t come across as the kind of guy you would invite to the neighborhood BBQ. And then there is Rocco. Non stop talker, and funny. And he has a good time. In the post round interviews he was asked how he felt out there, knowing how close Tiger was. Did he feel any pressure? He just smiled and laughed and said no, it was great. He was just having a great time out there playing. And you knew he wanted to play with Tiger just for the fun of it. Not that he necessarily thought he would beat him, just that this was probably the one time in his career he would even be close to being in a group with Tiger and he just really wanted to enjoy the experience. Rocco does it for the fun. Rocco is the kind of guy you would definitely invite to the neighborhood BBQ.
So, today you have steady consistent Lee Westwood and Tiger who will be trying to gut it out through knee pain. And right behind him is Rocco who is playing very well and having the time of his life. And right behind him are several other top notch players who normally wouldn’t think they had a chance with Tiger being in first. But then there is that knee issue…..so who knows? Going to be a very interesting final round. Definitely worth watching. And you will be watching right? You really have no excuse to miss it. It’s being broadcast in prime time, and since it’s summer everything else is re-runs. So there isn’t anything else worth watching anyway. Unless you’re into that whole Lakers/Celtics thing. But that’s what remotes were made for, easy channel switching. But really, once you switch to the US Open, you’ll forget all about Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant.
Even I got hooked on this one. Listened to it at work today!
Posted by: Jill T. | June 16, 2008 at 03:30 PM