Rocco Mediate
USA
Rocco Anthony Mediate (born December 17, 1962) is an American professional golfer with multiple PGA Tour wins.
Personal information
Full name Rocco Anthony Mediate
Born December 17, 1962 (1962-12-17) (age 49)
Greensburg, Pennsylvania
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 14 st)
Nationality United States
Career
College Florida Southern College
Turned professional 1985
Current tour(s) PGA Tour
Professional wins 10
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 6
Best results in Major Championships
Masters Tournament T15: 2001
U.S. Open 2nd: 2008
The Open Championship T18: 1996
PGA Championship 6th: 2002
Mediate was born in the Pittsburgh suburb of Greensburg, Pennsylvania. According to the Golf Channel, he is the son of a barber and has Italian ancestral heritage. 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.
Career
Mediate turned professional in 1985. His golfing career has been marred by back trouble. Early on, he compensated by using a long putter. 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. 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.
Mediate has been featured in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Rankings 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, and automatic berths in the next four majors.
Mediate earned his first win since 2002 at the 2010 Frys.com Open by beating Bo Van Pelt and Alex Prugh by one shot. The win secures Mediate's tour card for the next two years. During the tournament, Mediate holed out all four days. 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.
Through the end of 2010, Mediate had PGA Tour career earnings of $16,413,964.
Player profile is based on the information provided by www.en.wikipedia.org