SAN DIEGO - When Rocco Mediate made a par putt on the 16th hole to maintain his lead in the final round of the U.S. Open, he strutted toward his golf bag and stuck his putter on the ground, then waited, grinning, to see how long it would stand before falling over.
While Mediate was chatting his way around Torrey Pines, Tiger Woods was grinding, on a bad knee, to an unsightly 73, yet he summoned a 12-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to force a Monday playoff with Mediate.
Mediate and Woods: One plays with a childlike wonder; the other inspires it. The two will duel today in an 18-hole playoff for what Mediate calls "the National Championship" because two of the most divergent personalities on tour produced exactly the same score through four exhausting days on the longest course in Open history.
"Better watch yourself tomorrow, kid," Mediate joked with Woods, pointing a finger in the interview room. "Ah, he's a little nervous. We'll give you a show, I'm sure."
Father's Day could have been about Tiger Woods, who grew up playing on Southern California municipal courses such as Torrey Pines with his dad and is a new father, but Mediate better fits the fatherly stereotype.
He's 45, and would be the oldest player to win an Open, or to win his first major. Last year his back caused him so much pain he couldn't play, and he's still got the soft middle of someone who enjoys watching sports on the couch while drinking a beer.
Mediate used to use a long putter, hits it short and straight, doesn't wear a golf glove or put headcovers on his clubs on the course, had to win a playoff at a sectional qualifier to make it to this tournament, and plays every round with the carefree attitude of someone who sneaked out of the house to avoid cleaning the gutters.
While Mediate was grinning through the most pressurized round of his career Sunday, Woods -- Mediate's opposite in temperament, body type, achievement and ball-striking -- was grimacing. Woods started his round with a double bogey on No. 1, and bogeyed No. 2 after limping off the tee because of his sore, surgically repaired knee, which he described as "not better."
