Rocco Mediate was a fan favorite when he played on the PGA Tour, both for his everyman qualities and ways in which he engaged with the galleries. He also stole some of the spotlight — and gained the affection of millions of golf fans — when he lost to Tiger Woods in the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.
Mediate famously battled Woods in a playoff — Tiger drained an iconic 72nd-hole putt to force the extra holes — and lost to Woods on the first extra hole following the 18-hole Monday playoff.
Today, Mediate, who is 62, is living life on the PGA Tour Champions, where he won once in 19 starts last season. He recently joined GOLF’s Subpar podcast to discuss his PGA Tour career, his U.S. Open duel with Woods and more. He also explained an important lesson he learned from golf legend Arnold Palmer.
Mediate’s well known for being one of the best personalties in the game, but he said it wasn’t always that way. He said he used to be shy but eventually got over that. One thing that helped was his meeting with Palmer when Mediate was just 19.
Tiger Woods made his TGL debut. We left with 3 burning questions
“Mr. Palmer taught me one thing,” Mediate said. “I would sit in his office, a zillion times, and he would say, ‘You look people in the eye.’ He said, ‘if they are dumb enough to come out and watch you play golf, you better give them something for their money.’ He busted my ass. And he’s like, ‘Look at them. Say hello. What’s going on? Talk to them. I don’t care where you are. Say hi. Just give them something.’ So I learned to do that. He taught me how to be.”
As for his own game, Mediate also had five top 10s last season, and he’s still loving every second of it.
“I was so lucky to do what I do, and I’m still lucky, and we get to go to the greatest places on earth, play against the greatest players, even still, and they actually pay us, which is cool,” he said. “And we get people wanting to watch us play. I’ve always enjoyed that. So we are basically, as you know, we are just showoffs at heart — that’s what we are trying to do. We are trying to show them how good we are, and the more people around the more I enjoyed it.”
You can listen to the complete Subpar podcast here, or watch the YouTube video below.
Latest In News
