Rocco Mediate wins Furyk & Friends; going to Vegas to celebrate

Rocco Mediate wanted to win a tournament for his 9-year-old daughter Francesca, and he wanted to win in another decade of his life. He turned 61 this year, making it his fifth decade as a professional. And now he has a victory in each one of them.

Bob Estes wanted to win his first PGA Tour Champions title. Period.

Only one of them could prevail.

On the back nine, Mediate had gotten to 13-under par while Estes was still at 10-under.

The pivotal hole in the final round was the 15th, a par 5 with water left on the second shot. Estes hit a 3-wood in an effort to make birdie and get one shot closer to Mediate.  

“(It was) 222 to the front but 232 to carry the center of the green,” Estes said after the round. “I was going right down the center, so 232 back into the wind. I carried it about 236 or so back into the wind, so about a 245-yard shot.”

Rocco Mediate played it as a three-shot hole.

His third was 130 yards. It hit and spun left and rolled off the green and into the fringe. He was perilously close to the water.  

He was lucky that the grass in the fringe area hadn’t been closely mown, either by decision of the Tour staff or because it was too wet to take the mowers there. But he was unlucky with the lie.

“Here is the thing you're thinking of believe it or not,” Mediate explained. ”If I don't hit this hard enough I'm going to hit it again. It's going to come right to me.”

The chip rolled almost completely off the green on the other side. In the end, it would be a bogey for Rocco Mediate.

Estes, due to his great 3-wood, had an eagle putt.

“I was definitely needing to go ahead and try to knock it on and make an eagle or at least a birdie,” Estes said. “When Rocco made bogey all of a sudden it was game on again.”

After Estes' birdie, there was only one shot separating them with three holes to go.

At the 18th, Mediate gifted Estes a bogey to throw the tournament into a playoff—a duel of competitors to find out who would prevail. 

Nerves seemed to enter the fray the first time they played the18th. Mediate, from a good tee shot, hit his second fat and failed to get to the green in two.

Estes, on the other hand, pushed his tee shot right, and it landed next to a large stick, perhaps eight to ten inches long, all on wet sand. He was able to extract himself, ending up in grass, above a greenside bunker. 

It took both of them three shots to get to the putting surface and then two amazing things happened.  They both made the putts.   

Estes estimated his was 18 feet. It was on a similar line as the putt he had in regulation on that hole.

“Hit that one really good,” Estes said about the first playoff hole.

“You expect that,” Mediate added. “I even told Pete ( his caddie), expect this to go in, and it did.”

Mediate hit his hard.

“You either make it or you don't, so it's not like it's going to -- it had some pace because it had to,” he noted. 

So, they went back to the 18th tee again. Groundhog Day golf. However, it was the second time through the 18th as a playoff hole that did Estes in.

Estes found a fairway bunker off the tee. Mediate was in the fairway.

On Mediate’s second shot, he was again short of the intended target, close to the front of the green. It was probably short because of an increase in the wind from weather that was headed toward the course.

Estes was in a flat spot in the bunker, but his shot out found the right rough which handed the advantage to Mediate. His third shot landed 15 feet from the cup, according to John Cook on Golf Channel.

Mediate’s first putt rolled up to about three feet, and he was not about to miss that one.  

Estes did not make his long putt for par, Mediate made his short one and guaranteed his victory.  

Now that Mediate has reached the goal of winning in five decades of life, he is going to celebrate by taking his daughter to Vegas. Not to gamble. She’s just nine. They are going to see the Sphere, O (the show), wax museums, and take gondola rides at the Venetian.

“Like I said, it was for the little one. Gets her a little trophy which is cool just to win anything,” Mediate concluded.