Rocco Mediate suggests what he noticed about Tiger Woods during their US Open playoff which nobody has ever talked about

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When it comes to iconic moments from the 2008 US Open, nothing arguably competes with the sight of Tiger Woods celebrating the putt he holed on 18 on Sunday to force a playoff with surprise clubhouse leader Rocco Mediate.

While he obviously won a number of majors by a much larger margin, the 2008 US Open perhaps marked one of the most impressive victories of Tiger Woods‘ career. Woods played that week at Torrey Pines with essentially a broken leg.

But it so nearly ended up being the one major win of Rocco Mediate’s career. Woods was one shot behind teeing off on the final four holes during the final round. But of course, he would hole the 12 foot putt to take the tournament into Monday and an 18 hole playoff.

The celebrations were electric. However, that was not the case on Monday, with Woods actually needing 19 holes to get the job done. Obviously, you could understand why Woods was not quite as energetic. By that stage, his leg had handled 91 holes in a major championship.

What Tiger Woods never did during his playoff with Rocco Mediate

But perhaps there was another reason Woods was not quite as theatrical in the playoff. According to Mediate, who was speaking on Subpar, Woods did not bother with celebrating because he was not trying to send a message to his opponent.

“I noticed one thing that he didn’t do, that no-one’s talked about. Obviously, with the fist-pump stuff he’s done his whole career, which is great. He had I figured five or six shots at that on Monday in the playoff. Not one time did he do it. And I know why. I swear to god I know why. Because he knows I didn’t care that it was him,” he said.

“I loved that it was him, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t like, ‘oh my god’. I did think this, ‘I’ve got a chance to beat the man, broken leg or not, in the biggest event of my life, what the hell else can I ask for?’ Playing with him over the years, I played good, I played nicely. I think he knew ‘well, that’s not going to do anything to him. He doesn’t give a s—. I’ve just got to do my thing’. And he did.”

What Woods said when he saw Mediate wearing red for the playoff

Mediate put up an incredible fight considering that that week marked one of just two top fives he would have in the majors across his entire career. And it seems that some suspected that he was deploying a slightly cheeky tactic to try and throw Woods off of his game.

Woods, of course, has famously always worn red on Sundays at tournaments. So it probably was not entirely surprising that he also wore that colour for the playoff.

The problem was that Mediate was also wearing red that day. And with that, some may have wondered whether it was a bit of mind games from the underdog. However, he confirmed in the same interview that that was never the plan.

Meanwhile, he shared how Woods reacted when he saw what he was wearing for that final day.

“I never, ever one time thought about it. Never once. Everybody says, did you [do it on purpose]? No, I promise you I never ever thought about it.

“It’s the last shirt I had, because who packs that much? It’s the last vest I had, and it’s the last pair of pants I had. If it was Sunday, I wouldn’t have had red on. I walked over to say hello that morning, and he said, ‘nice f—— shirt’, first thing he said to me.”