Are You Kidding Me?: The Story of Rocco Mediate's Extraordinary Battle With Tiger Woods at the US Open by John Feinstein, Rocco Mediate Page A
Authors: John Feinstein, Rocco Mediate
Tags: United States, History, Sports & Recreation, Golfers, Golf, 2008, U.S. Open (Golf tournament), Golfers - United States, Woods; Tiger, Mediate; Rocco
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single hole,” he said. “He figured
my caddy had enough to do trying to get me around.”
He somehow managed to play all 72 holes — “and didn’t finish last” — but he flew home very concerned about the state of his
back. “I was hoping, to be honest, that a good long rest would be all I needed,” he said. “The guys in the trailer had given
me some rehab exercises to do during the off-season and they politely suggested I try to lose a little weight. I worked hard
on the rehab and came out for ’94 hoping the rest and rehab would be enough. They weren’t.”
Rocco was not the only member of his family dealing with health issues — in fact, his problems were relatively minor compared
to what his mother had gone through during 1993. Donna Mediate had been diagnosed that summer with multiple myeloma, cancer
in her bone marrow. The prognosis was, in a word, terrible.
“I still remember everyone who knew my mom going on about how awful it was and wailing and crying,” he said. “I understood
all that, but I honestly didn’t believe that was the best way to help her. My mom is a strong woman. A lot of my toughness
comes from her.
“When I found out what was going on, I sat down with her and told her, ‘Look, I know this is rough and it’s unfair. But you’re
going to get better. You are going to deal with the treatments and whatever else you have to deal with, but I know you can
handle it. I honestly believed that if all she heard from people was how terrible it was and that she was going to die, she
would die. I told her she wasn’t going to die and she needed to look at this as a fight and just go and win the damn fight.
“I upset some people by saying all that, because they thought I was being cavalier about it. I wasn’t being cavalier. I thought
if I told her she should feel sorry for herself, she would. If I told her to go get better, she would.”
Donna ended up going to the University of Arkansas for a bone marrow transplant and treatment. She and Tony made the trip
more times than either can remember, but a year later she was cancer free.
“Rocco was tough on me,” she said years later. “The things he was saying weren’t necessarily easy to hear, but they were probably
good for me to hear.” She smiled. “The bottom line is I’m still here.”
Eight years later, Donna had a second bout with cancer. This time it was lymphoma. There was no surgery, but there was more
chemo and more radiation. Once again, her son more or less ordered her to get through it. Once again, she did.
“If only,” he said years later, “I was as good at ordering myself to get healthy. I might have won four or five majors by
now.”
R OCCO BEGAN 1994 BY PLAYING in five early-season tournaments. Even though he was still hurting, he managed to make four cuts. By spring, the pain was
so bad that after being forced to skip the Masters, he went to see Dr. Arthur Day, a noted back specialist, in Gainesville.
“He told me I had a choice: I could do surgery right away to repair my disk or I could do surgery later to repair my disk.
‘You’re going to have to have surgery, especially if you want to keep playing golf for a living,’ he told me. ‘It’s not a
matter of if, it’s a matter of when.’ ”
Rocco knew that surgery would means months of rehab and time away from golf and the tour. He also knew that the U.S. Open
was only a few weeks away and it was at Oakmont — the golf course where he had first started to wonder how good he might become
after playing there following the last round of the ’83 Open.
“Plus, it was a home game for me, and I knew it was going to be Arnold’s last Open and I might get paired with him because
the USGA does stuff like that,” he said. “I decided to wait at least until the Open pairings came out.”
David Fay, the executive director of the USGA, still did the pairings in those days. He always liked to put together
my caddy had enough to do trying to get me around.”
He somehow managed to play all 72 holes — “and didn’t finish last” — but he flew home very concerned about the state of his
back. “I was hoping, to be honest, that a good long rest would be all I needed,” he said. “The guys in the trailer had given
me some rehab exercises to do during the off-season and they politely suggested I try to lose a little weight. I worked hard
on the rehab and came out for ’94 hoping the rest and rehab would be enough. They weren’t.”
Rocco was not the only member of his family dealing with health issues — in fact, his problems were relatively minor compared
to what his mother had gone through during 1993. Donna Mediate had been diagnosed that summer with multiple myeloma, cancer
in her bone marrow. The prognosis was, in a word, terrible.
“I still remember everyone who knew my mom going on about how awful it was and wailing and crying,” he said. “I understood
all that, but I honestly didn’t believe that was the best way to help her. My mom is a strong woman. A lot of my toughness
comes from her.
“When I found out what was going on, I sat down with her and told her, ‘Look, I know this is rough and it’s unfair. But you’re
going to get better. You are going to deal with the treatments and whatever else you have to deal with, but I know you can
handle it. I honestly believed that if all she heard from people was how terrible it was and that she was going to die, she
would die. I told her she wasn’t going to die and she needed to look at this as a fight and just go and win the damn fight.
“I upset some people by saying all that, because they thought I was being cavalier about it. I wasn’t being cavalier. I thought
if I told her she should feel sorry for herself, she would. If I told her to go get better, she would.”
Donna ended up going to the University of Arkansas for a bone marrow transplant and treatment. She and Tony made the trip
more times than either can remember, but a year later she was cancer free.
“Rocco was tough on me,” she said years later. “The things he was saying weren’t necessarily easy to hear, but they were probably
good for me to hear.” She smiled. “The bottom line is I’m still here.”
Eight years later, Donna had a second bout with cancer. This time it was lymphoma. There was no surgery, but there was more
chemo and more radiation. Once again, her son more or less ordered her to get through it. Once again, she did.
“If only,” he said years later, “I was as good at ordering myself to get healthy. I might have won four or five majors by
now.”
R OCCO BEGAN 1994 BY PLAYING in five early-season tournaments. Even though he was still hurting, he managed to make four cuts. By spring, the pain was
so bad that after being forced to skip the Masters, he went to see Dr. Arthur Day, a noted back specialist, in Gainesville.
“He told me I had a choice: I could do surgery right away to repair my disk or I could do surgery later to repair my disk.
‘You’re going to have to have surgery, especially if you want to keep playing golf for a living,’ he told me. ‘It’s not a
matter of if, it’s a matter of when.’ ”
Rocco knew that surgery would means months of rehab and time away from golf and the tour. He also knew that the U.S. Open
was only a few weeks away and it was at Oakmont — the golf course where he had first started to wonder how good he might become
after playing there following the last round of the ’83 Open.
“Plus, it was a home game for me, and I knew it was going to be Arnold’s last Open and I might get paired with him because
the USGA does stuff like that,” he said. “I decided to wait at least until the Open pairings came out.”
David Fay, the executive director of the USGA, still did the pairings in those days. He always liked to put together
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