Rocco Mediate

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.

Rocco Mediate
Mediate in 2017
Personal information
Full nameRocco Anthony Mediate
Born (1962-12-17) December 17, 1962
Greensburg, Pennsylvania
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight190 lb (86 kg; 14 st)
Nationality United States
ResidenceNaples, Florida
SpouseJessica Mediate
Children4
Career
CollegeFlorida Southern College
Turned professional1985
Current tour(s)PGA Tour Champions
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Professional wins13
Highest ranking12 (April 28, 2002)[1]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour6
PGA Tour Champions4
Other3
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT15: 2001
PGA Championship6th: 2002
U.S. Open2nd: 2008
The Open ChampionshipT18: 1996

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.[2] 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.[3]

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.[4] 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.[5]

Mediate has PGA Tour career earnings of over $16 million.[6]

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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9]

On September 22, 2019, Mediate won the Sanford International on the PGA Tour Champions in South Dakota.

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.[10]

Professional wins (13)

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 Curtis Strange
2 Apr 25, 1993 KMart Greater Greensboro Open −7 (74-67-71-69=281) Playoff Steve Elkington
3 Jan 31, 1999 Phoenix Open −11 (69-67-66-71=273) 2 strokes Justin Leonard
4 Aug 13, 2000 Buick Open −20 (68-64-70-66=268) 1 stroke Chris Perry
5 Apr 28, 2002 Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic (2) −16 (68-67-66-71=272) 3 strokes Mark Calcavecchia
6 Oct 17, 2010 Frys.com Open −15 (64-65-67-73=269) 1 stroke Alex Prugh, Bo Van Pelt

PGA Tour playoff record (2–1)

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

Other wins (3)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 Nov 21, 1999 Callaway Golf Pebble Beach Invitational −6 (70-76-68-68=282) 1 stroke Annika Sörenstam
2 Nov 24, 2002 Franklin Templeton Shootout
(with Lee Janzen)		 −31 (65-60-60=185) 1 stroke David Gossett and Matt Kuchar,
John Huston and Jeff Maggert
3 Jun 24, 2003 CVS Charity Classic
(with Jeff Sluman)		 −22 (63-57=120) 1 stroke Billy Andrade and Brad Faxon

Other playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
1 2008 CVS Caremark Charity Classic
(with Brandt Snedeker)		 Billy Andrade and Davis Love III,
Paul Goydos and Tim Herron,
Camilo Villegas and Bubba Watson		 Villegas/Watson won by 1 stroke in three-hole aggregate playoff

PGA Tour Champions wins (4)
Legend
Senior major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour Champions (3)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 Feb 10, 2013 Allianz Championship −17 (67-61-71=199) 2 strokes Bernhard Langer, Tom Pernice Jr.
2 Sep 1, 2013 Shaw Charity Classic −22 (63-64-64-191) 7 strokes Tom Byrum
3 May 29, 2016 Senior PGA Championship −19 (62-66-71-66=265) 3 strokes Colin Montgomerie
4 Sep 22, 2019 Sanford International −9 (69-68-64-201) 2 strokes Ken Duke, Bob Estes,
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 The Players Championship
Tournament 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
The Players Championship T50 CUT T11 T11 T15 CUT T6 T55 T4 CUT T57 CUT
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
The Players Championship CUT T65 3 T45 T58 T44 T54 T60 T54
  Top 10
  Did not play

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

Results in World Golf Championships
Tournament1999200020012002200320042005200620072008
Match Play R64 R64 R32 R32 R64
Championship NT1 T24
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 strokes Colin Montgomerie

Senior results timeline

Results not in chronological order before 2017.

Tournament20132014201520162017201820192020
The Tradition 35 T6 T38 T42 T8 T12 NT
Senior PGA Championship T20 WD T26 1 CUT T64 T12 NT
U.S. Senior Open T3 T26 T20 CUT CUT T14 T47 NT
Senior Players Championship T22 T22 T26 78 T60 T20 T63 T67
Senior British Open Championship T18 T40 NT
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

U.S. national team appearances

See also

References
  1. "Week 17 2002 Ending 28 Apr 2002" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  2. "Transcript of Rocco Mediate news conference - Buick Open". August 11, 2000. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
  3. Bio of Mediate, Gaylord Sports Archived December 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Rocco Mediate wins Frys.com Open". ESPN. Associated Press. October 17, 2010. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
  5. "Frys.com - Round 4 notebook". PGA Tour. October 17, 2010. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
  6. "Rocco Mediate – Performance Stats". PGA Tour. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
  7. "Rocco Mediate 16th winner in debut". ESPN. Associated Press. February 10, 2013. Retrieved February 11, 2013.
  8. Inglis, Martin (May 30, 2016). "Colin Montgomerie: 'I did nothing wrong'". bunkered.
  9. "Mediate closes strong, wins Senior PGA Championship". Champions Tour. May 29, 2016. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
  10. "Baylor Bears Player Bio – Carmine Mediate". Retrieved October 28, 2013.
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