Rocco Mediate

Rocco Mediate
Mediate in 2017
Personal information
Full name Rocco Anthony Mediate
Born (1962-12-17) December 17, 1962
Greensburg, Pennsylvania
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 14 st)
Nationality  United States
Residence Naples, Florida
Spouse Jessica Mediate
Children 4
Career
College Florida Southern College
Turned professional 1985
Current tour(s) PGA Tour Champions
Former tour(s) PGA Tour
Professional wins 12
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 6
PGA Tour Champions 3
Other 3
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament T15: 2001
U.S. Open 2nd: 2008
The Open Championship T18: 1996
PGA Championship 6th: 2002

Rocco Anthony Mediate (born December 17, 1962) is an American professional golfer who has won six times on the PGA Tour and three times on the Champions Tour. In the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines South Course he finished runner-up after losing the first sudden death hole after an 18-hole playoff to Tiger Woods. In 2016, Mediate won the Senior PGA Championship, one of the five senior majors.

Early years

Mediate was born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. According to the Golf Channel, he is the son of a barber and has Italian ancestral heritage. Mediate attended Hempfield Area High School. When he attended Florida Southern College, he was a member of the golf team. His close friend Lee Janzen, another PGA Tour pro, also played there. They helped lead Florida Southern to the 1985 Division II national team championship.

Professional career

Rocco Mediate 2016

Mediate turned professional in 1985. His golfing career has been marred by back trouble. Early on, he compensated by using a long putter.[1] In 1991 he became the first player to win on the PGA Tour using a long putter when he won the Doral-Ryder Open. He picked up another victory at the 1993 KMart Greater Greensboro Open, but he then had a long layoff due to a ruptured disk. He underwent major back surgery in 1999, but lost practically five years of his career. Back pain returned in 2004 and later nearly ended his career.[2]

Mediate returned to the Tour in 1996 playing under a special medical extension and performed steadily. He picked up wins on the Tour in 1999, 2000 and 2002. After improving his fitness to minimize his back problems, he returned to using a conventional putter in 2003.

Mediate has been featured in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking and considered to be one of the best putters in golf. At the 2006 Masters, Mediate was in contention to win the event on the final day until he took a septuple-bogey ten on the par three 12th hole. His best finish in a major championship was a second place showing at the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines South Course. Tied with Tiger Woods at -1 after regular tournament play, then tied again at even par through the 18 hole playoff, Woods finally bested Mediate on the first hole (hole #7) of sudden death, the 91st hole of the tournament. It was only the third time a U.S. Open playoff had gone to sudden death. Mediate's performance gained him 111 spots in the world golf rankings, moving him from 158th to 47th place.

Mediate earned his first win since 2002 at the 2010 Frys.com Open by beating Bo Van Pelt and Alex Prugh by one shot. During the tournament, Mediate holed out all four days.[3] He started on Thursday, with a hole-in-one on the 189 yard par-3 3rd hole. On Friday, he holed out from 160 yards on the par-4 4th hole for an eagle, followed on Saturday with a hole-out from 111 yards on the par-5 15th hole, also for eagle. On Sunday, he was tied for the lead on the 17th hole when he holed from 116 yards for eagle to take a two shot lead. He parred the 18th to win the tournament. He also became the oldest wire-to-wire winner on the PGA Tour since at least 1970.[4]

Mediate has PGA Tour career earnings of over $16 million.[5]

Mediate joined the Champions Tour for 2013 after turning 50 and his exemption for his 2010 PGA Tour win ended. He won in his debut at the Allianz Championship, the 16th Champions Tour player to do so. After shooting a 61 in the second round, he claimed victory by two strokes over Bernhard Langer and Tom Pernice, Jr. with a birdie at the last hole.[6] He won his second Champions Tour tournament that September, at the Shaw Charity Classic. Mediate finished seven strokes ahead of runner-up, Tom Byrum.

In May 2016, Mediate won his first senior major championship at the Senior PGA Championship, with a three stroke victory over the defending champion Colin Montgomerie.[7] His winning total of 265 (−19) broke the previous record by three and was the first wire-to-wire victory at the event since Jack Nicklaus in 1991. His victory was sealed when he holed out from a greenside bunker on the 71st hole of regulation play for birdie.[8]

Other activities

On October 9, 2006, it was announced that Mediate would become an on-course reporter for The Golf Channel's 2007 PGA Tour coverage.

Mediate played in the 2005 World Series of Poker's Main Event, as well as the 2001 Blem Classic of Las Vegas.

Personal life

Mediate is a distant cousin of Puerto Rico Islanders soccer player Domenic Mediate.[9]

Professional wins (12)

PGA Tour wins (6)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner(s)-up
1 Mar 4, 1991 Doral-Ryder Open −12 (66-70-68-72=276) Playoff United States Curtis Strange
2 Apr 25, 1993 KMart Greater Greensboro Open −7 (74-67-71-69=281) Playoff Australia Steve Elkington
3 Jan 31, 1999 Phoenix Open −11 (69-67-66-71=273) 2 strokes United States Justin Leonard
4 Aug 13, 2000 Buick Open −20 (68-64-70-66=268) 1 stroke United States Chris Perry
5 Apr 28, 2002 Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic (2) −16 (68-67-66-71=272) 3 strokes United States Mark Calcavecchia
6 Oct 17, 2010 Frys.com Open −15 (64-65-67-73=269) 1 stroke United States Alex Prugh, United States Bo Van Pelt

PGA Tour playoff record (2–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 1991 Doral-Ryder Open United States Curtis Strange Won with birdie on first extra hole
2 1993 KMart Greater Greensboro Open Australia Steve Elkington Won with birdie on fourth extra hole
3 2008 U.S. Open United States Tiger Woods Lost to par on first extra hole after
18-hole playoff (Woods:71, Mediate:71)

Other wins (3)

Champions Tour wins (3)

Legend
Senior major championships (1)
Other Champions Tour (2)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 Feb 10, 2013 Allianz Championship −17 (67-61-71=199) 2 strokes Germany Bernhard Langer, United States Tom Pernice, Jr.
2 Sep 1, 2013 Shaw Charity Classic −22 (63-64-64-191) 7 strokes United States Tom Byrum
3 May 29, 2016 Senior PGA Championship −19 (62-66-71-66=265) 3 strokes Scotland Colin Montgomerie

Results in major championships

Tournament 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship
PGA Championship T31
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Masters Tournament T22 T37 T27
U.S. Open CUT T44 T25 WD T34
The Open Championship CUT T45 T39 T18 CUT
PGA Championship T69 T16 T40 T68 T36 T49
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Masters Tournament T52 T15 T36 T33 CUT T36 T49
U.S. Open T32 4 T37 CUT T6 CUT 2 T47
The Open Championship T52 WD T47 T19
PGA Championship WD T66 6 T18 WD 72
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship
PGA Championship WD CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = Withdrew
"T" = tied

Summary

TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Masters Tournament000002109
U.S. Open010234159
The Open Championship00000296
PGA Championship0000131511
Totals01024114935
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 8 (1991 PGA – 1993 PGA)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (four times)

Results in World Golf Championship events

Tournament1999200020012002200320042005200620072008
Accenture Match Play Championship R64 R64 R32 R32 R64
CA Championship NT1 T24
Bridgestone Invitational WD T15 T16 T52

1Cancelled due to 9/11

  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
WD = Withdrew
"T" = tied
NT = No Tournament

Senior major championships

Wins (1)

YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunner-up
2016Senior PGA Championship2 shot lead−19 (62-66-71-66=265)3 strokesScotland Colin Montgomerie

Senior results timeline

Results are not in chronological order before 2017.

Tournament201320142015201620172018
The Tradition 35 T6 T38 T42 T8
Senior PGA Championship T20 WD T26 1 CUT T64
U.S. Senior Open T3 T26 T20 CUT CUT T14
Senior Players Championship T22 T22 T26 78 T60 T20
Senior British Open Championship T18 T40
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place

U.S. national team appearances

Equipment

  • Driver: Vertical Groove Driver
  • 3-wood: Callaway
  • 4+ hybrid: Callaway Apex 2
  • 5-wood: Doesn't carry a 5-wood
  • 4-9 irons: Srixon 565s
  • Pitching wedge: Srixon 565s
  • 52 degree wedge: Vokey
  • 56 degree wedge: Vokey
  • Putter -----
  • Ball - Titleist ProV1x

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Transcript of Rocco Mediate news conference - Buick Open". August 11, 2000. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
  2. ↑ Bio of Mediate, Gaylord Sports Archived December 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ "Rocco Mediate wins Frys.com Open". ESPN. Associated Press. October 17, 2010. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Frys.com - Round 4 notebook". PGA Tour. October 17, 2010. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Rocco Mediate – Performance Stats". PGA Tour. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Rocco Mediate 16th winner in debut". ESPN. Associated Press. February 10, 2013. Retrieved February 11, 2013.
  7. ↑ Inglis, Martin (May 30, 2016). "Colin Montgomerie: 'I did nothing wrong'". bunkered.
  8. ↑ "Mediate closes strong, wins Senior PGA Championship". Champions Tour. May 29, 2016. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Baylor Bears Player Bio – Carmine Mediate". Retrieved October 28, 2013.
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