Rocco Mediate

Rocco Mediate
Mediate in 2017
Personal information
Full nameRocco Anthony Mediate
Born (1962-12-17) December 17, 1962 (age 61)
Greensburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight190 lb (86 kg; 14 st)
Sporting nationality United States
ResidenceNaples, Florida, U.S.
SpouseJessica Mediate
Children4
Career
CollegeFlorida Southern College
Turned professional1985
Current tour(s)PGA Tour Champions
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Professional wins14
Highest ranking12 (April 28, 2002)[1]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour6
PGA Tour Champions5
Other3
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT15: 2001
PGA Championship6th: 2002
U.S. Open2nd: 2008
The Open ChampionshipT18: 1996
Achievements and awards
Champions Tour
Rookie of the Year		2013

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 PGA Tour Champions. 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 life

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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.

Amateur career

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Mediate attended Florida Southern College and 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

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Mediate in 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.

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 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.

Personal life

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Mediate is a distant cousin of Puerto Rico Islanders soccer player Domenic Mediate.[10]

Professional wins (14)

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PGA Tour wins (6)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin 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. Year Tournament Opponent Result
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: E (71),
Mediate: E (71)

Other wins (3)

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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 Sweden Annika Sörenstam
2 Nov 24, 2002 Franklin Templeton Shootout
(with United States Lee Janzen) 		−31 (65-60-60=185) 1 stroke United States David Gossett and United States Matt Kuchar,
United States John Huston and United States Jeff Maggert
3 Jun 24, 2003 CVS Charity Classic
(with United States Jeff Sluman) 		−22 (63-57=120) 1 stroke United States Billy Andrade and United States Brad Faxon

Other playoff record (0–1)

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

PGA Tour Champions wins (5)

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Legend
Senior major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour Champions (4)
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
4 Sep 22, 2019 Sanford International −9 (69-68-64=201) 2 strokes United States Ken Duke, United States Bob Estes,
Scotland Colin Montgomerie
5 Oct 6, 2024 Constellation Furyk & Friends −12 (67-66-71=204) Playoff United States Bob Estes

PGA Tour Champions playoff record (1–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2024 Constellation Furyk & Friends United States Bob Estes Won with par on second extra hole

Results in major championships

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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 CUT 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 CUT 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

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Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 2 10 9
U.S. Open 0 1 0 2 3 4 15 9
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 2 9 6
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 1 3 17 11
Totals 0 1 0 2 4 11 51 35
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 8 (1991 PGA – 1993 PGA)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (four times)

Results in The Players Championship

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Tournament 1987 1988 1989
The Players Championship T50 CUT T11
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
The Players Championship T11 T15 CUT T6 T55 T4 CUT T57 CUT
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
The Players Championship CUT T65 3 T45 T58 T44 T54 T60
Tournament 2010 2011
The Players Championship T54
  Top 10
  Did not play

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

Results in World Golf Championships

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Tournament 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
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

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Wins (1)

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Year Championship 54 holes Winning score Margin Runner-up
2016 Senior PGA Championship 2 shot lead −19 (62-66-71-66=265) 3 strokes Scotland Colin Montgomerie

Results timeline

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Results not in chronological order before 2022.

Tournament 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
The Tradition 35 T6 T38 T42 T8 T12 NT T40 T65 WD
Senior PGA Championship T20 WD T26 1 CUT T64 T12 NT T23 WD T63
U.S. Senior Open T3 T26 T20 CUT CUT T14 T47 NT T52 T18 CUT T12
Senior Players Championship T22 T22 T26 78 T60 T20 T63 T67 T7 T17 T32 T21
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

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Professional

See also

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References

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  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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