Rocco Mediate was a fan favorite when he played on the PGA Tour, both for his everyman qualities and the ways in which he engaged with the galleries. He also stole some of the limelight — and won the affection of millions of golf fans — when he lost to Tiger Woods at the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines.
Throw in the famous Woods in a playoff — Tiger holed an iconic 72 to force extra holes — and lost to Woods on the first extra hole after Monday’s 18-hole playoff.
Today, Mediate, who is 62, is living the life on the PGA Champions Tour, where he won once in 19 starts last season. He recently joined the GOLF Subpar podcast to discuss his PGA Tour career, his US Open duel with Woods and more. He also explained an important lesson he learned from the golf legend Arnold Palmer.
Mediate is known for being one of the best personalities in the game, but he said that wasn’t always the case. He said he used to be shy but eventually got over it. One thing that helped was his meeting with Palmer when Mediate was just 19 years old.
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“Mr. Palmer taught me one thing,” Mediate said. “I’d sit in his office, a billion times, and he’d say, ‘You look people in the eye.’ He said, “If they’re dumb enough to come out and watch you play golf, you better give them something for their money.” He grabbed my ass. And he says, ‘Look at them. say hello What’s going on? Talk to them. I don’t care where you are. say hi Just give them something.’ So I learned to do it. He taught me how to be.
As for his game, Mediate also had five top 10s last season, and he’s still loving every second of it.
“I was very lucky to do what I do, and I’m still lucky, and we get to go to the biggest venues in the world, play against the biggest players, even, and they actually pay us, which which is fantastic.” he said. “And we make the people who want to watch us play. I have always enjoyed this. So we’re basically, you know, we’re just shows at heart – that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to show them how good we are and the more people around, the more I liked it.”
You can listen complete the Subpar podcast hereor watch the YouTube video below.
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