You can bet there will be a bunch of Polk County folks pulling for Rocco Mediate tomorrow at Torrey Pines.
The Florida Southern grad, who is one of the more popular players among his peers, will go head-to-head with Tiger Woods in an 18-hole playoff. There was nothing flashy about Rocco's final regulation round. Just a solid even par round. No flare for the dramatic needed. As for Tiger, flare would be an understatement. The best in the world, and likely the best of ever play this game, started out the day double bogey, bogey, and still managed to 1-under par the rest of the day to force the playoff.
His birdie putt on the 18th, a putt that caught the right edge and managed to roll in was as dramatic as the eagle putt he had on Saturday.
It will be David vs. Goliath. A former Florida Southern golfer who finds himself in unincorporated territory. As much as I admire Tiger's game, I will be pulling for Rocco tomorrow. Somehow I believe there will be plenty of PGA Tour players doing the same thing. Not because they would like to see Tiger fail. On the contrary, they want Rocco to succeed. If Tiger wasn't his opponent, he'd feel the same way.
One final thought. How many of you will be calling in sick tomorrow? I know I'll be out of pocket from noon to around 4:30..
Tom Korun