The 2008 U.S. Open championship held at Torrey Pines was one for the ages and culminated with a 18-hole playoff between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate. As we prepare for another major championship at this beautiful course, we knew the timing was perfect to look back for the podcast. 

  Tiger Woods the world's #1 player at the time and forced the playoff with a dramatic performance in Sunday's final round. It's no surprise that Tiger was a big favorite to defeat the 158th ranked player in the world in Mediate.   But Rocco endeared himself all week to the casual golf fan who may not have known him as of the previous Thursday and when you combine that with peak Tiger Woods you have the potential for an instant classic, which is exactly what they delivered.    In this episode we discuss:  

• We all know a guy like Rocco Mediate
• Prime Tiger Woods
• The summer of Dan Hicks
• The history of majors at Torrey Pines that will surprise you
• Ben surprises Mike with a true crime nugget
• Golf guy Ben gives a pick for this years US Open
• The playoff round being much more competitive than we even remember
• Tiger and his family celebrating after
• The aftermath for Tiger and Rocco

If you want to go back and watch the ESPN/NBC production as it aired in 2008, we have the full 4-hour broadcast on our website here: https://distantreplaypodcast.com/ep-81-2008-u-s-open-playoff-tiger-woods-vs-rocco-mediate/