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 B

three-somes
     for the first two days that made sense for one reason or another: It could be three past U.S. Amateur champions or two players
     who had once met in an Open playoff.
    In this case, Fay wanted to put together a threesome for Palmer that would be meaningful, since it would be his last U.S.
     Open. He chose John Mahaffey to be one member of Palmer’s group because Mahaffey had won the PGA Championship at Oakmont in
     1978 and thus had history with the golf course, just as Palmer did.
    Then, looking through the names in front of him, Fay came to Rocco’s. “It was a natural,” he said. “Pennsylvania kid, grew
     up near Oakmont, plus I knew that Arnold had been one of his mentors.”
    As soon as he heard who he was paired with, Rocco was going to play if he had to be pushed around the golf course in a wheel-chair.
     “I had to try to play,” he said. “I mean, Arnold’s last Open, being paired with him? Come on. There was no choice.”
    For 27 holes, the back held up and Rocco was on the leader board, only a couple of shots behind leaders Ernie Els and Colin
     Montgomerie. But on a steamy, humid day — the temperatures reached record highs that week in Pittsburgh — Rocco felt the back
     go again as he, Palmer, and Mahaffey walked to the 10th tee.
    The two days had been remarkably emotional. Palmer was cheered every step of the way, every swing, every putt, every tipped
     cap. Rocco could see how emotional Palmer was getting as the day wore on and he told himself he had to hang in and at least
     finish the round. He wanted to walk up the 18th fairway with Palmer, to be on the green to hear the cheers, and to give him
     a hug when he finished. What’s more, he didn’t want to take away from Palmer’s moment by having to leave him to finish in
     a twosome with Mahaffey.
    So he fought his way through the last nine holes. At the 17th, a short par-four that some players can drive or at least come
     very close to the green off the tee, he hit a five-iron.
    “Why’d you hit an iron there?” Palmer asked, as they walked down the fairway.
    “Because I can’t make a full swing,” Rocco answered through gritted teeth. “I’m just trying to finish.”
    Fortunately the 18th hole was playing downwind, and Rocco was able to half-swing a driver and get a five-iron onto the green.
     The hole was playing so short that day that Palmer, who had been hitting fairway woods well short of most of the par-fours
     all day, was able to reach the green in two.
    As the three players began their walk up to the green, Rocco and Mahaffey hung back for a long moment to allow Palmer to walk
     onto the green alone. The cheers were absolutely deafening. It seemed as if all thirty thousand spectators on the grounds
     were ringing the 18th green. On the 10th tee, a few yards from the green, Strange and the other players in his group stopped
     to applaud and to watch as Palmer walked onto the green. He was crying by then, the tears streaming down his face.
    Mahaffey and Rocco made sure Palmer was the last one to putt out. “Can you imagine what it would have been like, putting after
     Arnold had finished?” Rocco said. “I mean, are you kidding? No way.”
    After Palmer holed his last putt, Rocco wrapped his arms around him. Both men were crying by that point. “All of this,” Rocco
     said to Palmer, gesturing in the direction of the thousands of people around the green, “is because of you.”
    Years later, Palmer remembered that moment and that comment. “I think I said something like, ‘I hope just a little bit of
     that is true,’ ” he said. “That was one of my more special moments because of where it was and the way the fans acted, but
     also because of what Rocco said on the green after my last putt.”
    Rocco was talking about Palmer’s importance to the growth of the game and the fact that his popularity and charisma had taken
     the tour from being a minor league sport to a major league sport. Tiger Woods would