"I got my wish. But I want to do it again. Now."
His near-miss moved him from 158 to 47 in the world rankings.
"It was like a prizefight," said Mediate, who missed a 20-foot putt on the 18th hole that would have won it. "No one expected me to [stick around] that long, or survive, and he had to birdie the last to tie me. Again. And he did it. It's amazing."
If this championship had been held anywhere but a place where Tiger's won a dozen times going back to his junior days, maybe this doesn't happen.
We know only what went down. And it was a keeper, from a guy who defines indelible.
This was the first Father's Day he was able to share with his daughter Sam, who celebrates her first birthday tomorrow. Once, he broke down in tears after winning a major for the first time after his father Earl's death. This time, he got to hold the future.
Different emotions. Identical satisfaction.
"It means everything [to have Sam here]," Tiger said. "It really does. I used to talk to my dad after winning tournaments. I can't do that anymore. I'm experiencing the other side now . . .
"I could have very easily [quit]. But I'd never do that, not in front of these people. That's never going to happen.
"I don't know how it even got this far. But I'm very fortunate. For some reason, through all those ups and downs, it just happened to be [my] week. Just amazing."
It often is. *
