Woods wins classic U.S. Open duel

SAN DIEGO - Golf gives us more than drama. Golf gives us tableau.

After playing to a tie through 90 holes in the U.S. Open, Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate marched to the seventh tee at Torrey Pines on Monday afternoon for a sudden-death playoff.

It was the 19th hole of the day. On most courses, the 19th hole is the bar. On this day, the 19th hole was the place to drink in the kind of panorama only golf can provide:

Two exhausted golfers, Woods limping on his bad knee, Mediate leaning heavily against his caddie and wiping his face with a towel. A hawk flying over the green, casting its shadow on the flag.

A 360-degree view from the seventh green that included the Pacific, a hang glider flying over the third green, and multihued canyons. Thousands of fans sprinting to see the final shots of the tournament, then turning so silent you could hear the surf pounding the beach.

Woods leaving his birdie putt just short, falling to his knees, and using his putter to slowly regain his feet. Mediate, needing a curling par putt to send the tournament to the 92nd hole, missing high, as Woods sighed and hugged his caddie, more in relief than triumph.

Woods walking off the seventh green looking drained, and motioning his wife, Elin, toward a cart, where he would finally rest his surgically repaired knee. Mediate shrugging and chatting on the green, saying, "Oh, my God, that was ridiculous. I've never had more fun. He's sooo hard to beat."

On Monday afternoon, Woods won his 14th major championship, leaving him, at 32, four shy of Jack Nicklaus' record. "This is the best," he said, ranking his majors. "Just because of all the things I had to deal with."

"All the things" consisted of playing 91 pressurized holes after undergoing knee surgery and not walking 18 holes since the Masters in early April. "Nothing he does surprises me," said Mediate, who was trying to become, at 45, the oldest player ever to win the U.S. Open. "It was fun to turn the tables on him for a while, though."

Woods took a three-shot lead after the 10th hole. This was Mediate's cue to get out of the way of greatness. Instead, he took the lead on the 15th green and held it heading to the 18th tee.

Mediate missed the fairway left, played short with his second shot and hit a wedge for a makeable birdie try. Woods bombed a drive down the middle -- "He needs to hit it 340 in the fairway," Mediate said, "so he hits it 340 in the fairway" -- and hit a 5-iron to 45 feet.

Both players two-putted and headed for the seventh tee. Woods hit his drive to the right side of the fairway; Mediate hooked his drive into the bunker. Mediate hooked his next shot against the grandstand and took a drop. Woods played to the front of the green.

Woods was hardly at his best; he fought off questions about his knee all week, intimating that he played despite his doctor's wishes, that he required painkillers to get through the rounds, that he can't be sure the knee will withstand the cartilage-stretching torque of his swing for long.

There are five majors remaining before Hazeltine National hosts the 2009 PGA Championship. If Woods wins three of the next five, he could tie Nicklaus in Minnesota.

We can only hope Woods and someone with Mediate's guts and good humor can create this kind of drama in Chaska, can paint this kind of tableau against the backdrop of Lake Hazeltine.