Tiger Woods won the US Open when he defeated Rocco Mediate at the first hole of sudden death after the pair could not be separated over an 18-hole play-off, on this day in 2008.
Woods forced the play-off at Torrey Pines when he converted a 15-foot birdie putt on 18 which saw the pair tied on one under after four rounds in California.
Mediate, who was bidding to become the oldest US Open winner at 45, led by one on the final tee but Woods drew level when he produced a birdie for the tie to be decided by sudden death.
Tiger Woods' 15 majors:
1997 Masters1999 PGA Championship2000 U.S. Open2000 The Open 2000 PGA Championship2001 Masters2002 Masters2002 U.S. Open2005 Masters2005 The Open2006 The Open2006 PGA Championship2007 PGA Championship2008 U.S. Open2019 Masters#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/ZPsB0CUTsW
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 14, 2019
Mediate missed a putt to save par and bogeyed the first hole which saw Woods take advantage and seal his 14th major victory on the same day he celebrated 500 weeks as world number one.
Woods admitted the 2008 US Open was his greatest victory to date having recovered from knee surgery two months prior and suffering with pain throughout the tournament.
“I don’t know how it even got this far but I’m very, very fortunate to have played 91 holes and come out on top,” Wood said.
“I think this is the best, just because of all the things I had to deal with.
Tiger Woods is the only golfer since the OWGR debuted in 1986 to win the U.S. Open while ranked No. 1. He did it 3 times (2000, 2002, 2008). #TriviaTuesday https://t.co/elUGivuQRq pic.twitter.com/7uL3gxXlSI
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) November 9, 2022
“It’s a close one with the first (major) that I won (at the 1997 Masters).
“I dealt with a few things this week and just had to keep plugging along.
“I wasn’t feeling my best, I didn’t get off to the greatest of starts and when I finally got off to a good start (in the play-off), I screwed that up by finding the bunker on three.”
