Larry Brown Sports

Rocco Mediate recently shared a story about Tiger Woods that gives us an interesting glimpse at the golf legend’s personality.

Mediate sat down with Golf Channel’s David Feherty for an interview on “Feherty” (Mondays 10:00 p.m. ET on Golf Channel) last week and said he still hasn’t had a chance to chat with Tiger about their dramatic playoff at the 2008 US Open. Woods, playing on a bad knee that would require season-ending surgery, sunk a birdie putt on the 72nd hole to tie him with Mediate, who was in the clubhouse at -1. The two played an 18-hole playoff on Monday to determine the winner. Tiger again made birdie on the last hole of the playoff round to tie Mediate. Woods then beat Mediate in a sudden-death playoff hole to win the tournament.

Battling Woods head-to-head for the entire day is Mediate’s biggest claim to fame. So when he saw Tiger the next year at the 2009 Players Championship, he was hoping his competitor could give him a nice personalized autograph.

Mediate told Feherty that he placed a manila envelope containing a pin sheet and great photo of the two of them on the course together that day. He said he included a note asking Tiger to sign the pin sheet and write a personalized message on the photo.

Mediate returned from his round at TPC and saw the envelope sitting in his locker. He was eager to read what it said. When he opened it up, he saw there was nothing written on the pin sheet, and that Tiger only signed his name on the photo without leaving a message. He was disappointed to learn that Woods ignored his request.

“Why wouldn’t he just go, ‘Roc, you suck, you got lucky for six days. I had a broken leg’ … just mess with me, and then sign my pin sheet so I could put the damn thing on the wall and say, ‘Almost got the guy that day,’” Mediate said to Feherty.

Mediate says he threw the picture away.

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A golfer was disqualified from US Open sectional qualifying after a competitor called in to report him for signing an incorrect scorecard, which was the result of the golfer having to recall his scores from memory because his scorecard was ruined in the rain.

Andrew Jensen, who is a PGA Tour Canada member, was one of 49 golfers to tee it up at a US Open local qualifying event at Bellevue Country Club in Syracuse, NY, on Wednesday. Jensen signed for a 76, which was the second-best score. The 76 would have given him one of three spots in sectional qualifying, which takes place on June 3. But Jensen inadvertently signed an incorrect scorecard, leading to his disqualification.

Unfortunate news everybody. I signed an incorrect scorecard today and never realized until after all the excitement subsided. The result, DQ

— Andrew Jensen (@andrewjensen) May 15, 2013

It turns out that Jensen shot a 77, not a 76. Jensen apparently three-putted on the par-5 5th hole and earned a seven, but he mistakenly marked himself down for a six.

“The mistake happened because my own personal scorecard was ruined from the rain so I had to briefly go on memory,” Jensen told Larry Brown Sports in a Twitter message.

“A six-hour time in that weather had me fried and being that many over had me sign it quickly. Then as the day went on the score was holding up and I was just in shock that scores were so high.

“It’s really a bummer because the 77 I actually shot was still enough to qualify,” Jensen told LBS.

Had Jensen signed for a 77 — which was his actual score — he would have been part of a four-way tie. The four golfers would have had a playoff to determine who earned the spots in the sectional qualifying.

Canadian pro Brian McCann earned one of the three qualifying spots by shooting a 75. Canadians Chris Hemmerich and Greg Cuthill earned the other two spots by shooting 77s. Amateur Patrick Milkovich of New York lost the playoff and is an alternate.

Jensen told LBS he liked his chances in a playoff because he won a playoff there two years ago.

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Sergio Garcia refuses to let go of the Saturday incident between him and Tiger Woods.

Garcia blamed Woods for causing a distraction among fans while he was attempting to hit a shot on the second hole at The Players Championship on Saturday. Garcia said that Woods brought out his 5-wood while Garcia was getting ready to hit, leading to cheers from the fans. Tiger defended himself by saying after the round that he had been cleared to hit and that he wasn’t surprised Sergio was complaining.

Garcia choked at the end of the tournament by hitting three balls into the water over the final two holes. He finishing tied for eighth while Tiger won the tournament, even though the two were tied entering the 17th hole on Sunday.

After the tournament ended, Garcia was asked again about the incident.

“It sounds like I was the bad guy here. I was the victim,” Garcia insisted. “I don’t have any regrets of anything.”

Yes, Garcia insisted he was a “victim” for what happened on Saturday. Is there any surprise that people dislike him?

Here is a video recapping what each golfer said on Saturday about the incident:

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Sergio Garcia may have been served an unfortunate dose of karma on Sunday at The Players.

Garcia was competing with Tiger Woods for the lead at TPC Sawgrass all weekend, and the two were tied for the tournament lead entering the 71st hole. And that’s when things got out of hand for the Spaniard.

Garcia went into the water twice on the par-3 17th and quadruple-bogeyed the hole. Then on the par-4 18th, Garcia went into the water again. He double-bogeyed the hole and finished the tournament tied for eighth, six shots back of Woods who won the tournament by shooting 13 under.

Garcia has struggled when going head-to-head with Woods throughout his career, and the trend continued on Sunday. In fact, Garcia blamed Woods for causing a distraction during one of his shots on the second hole on Saturday. Maybe this was karma for his complaints, though Garcia’s not about to apologize.

“It sounds like I was the bad guy here. I was the victim. I don’t have any regrets of anything,” Garcia said about the incident after the tournament.

Video via the fine work of World of Isaac

Tiger Woods was questioned for the second tournament in a row for a drop he took after hitting into the water.

Tiger went into the water on the par-4 14th hole during the final round of The Players on Sunday. He took a drop which led to some questions from NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller.

“That was really, really borderline. I couldn’t live with myself without saying that,” Miller said, via Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner.

Miller is known for being a controversial announcer, so this sort of thing is nothing new for him. This is also nothing new for Tiger, who was facing disqualification at the Masters after taking an illegal drop on the 15th hole at Augusta during his second round.

Woods took his one-stroke penalty for hitting into the water on 14 and double-bogeyed the hole. He won the tournament at 13-under, but the drop he took on 14 has left many questions.

Woods’ options after hitting into the water were: 1) play his shot from the original location 2) play from behind the water hazard 3) play where the ball crossed over the hazard.

Did Tiger do any of the three? The PGA Tour had his back by issuing this statement:

“Without definitive evidence, the point where Woods’ ball last crossed the lateral water hazard is determined through best judgement by Woods and his fellow competitor. If that point later proves to be a wrong point (through television or other means), the player is not penalized by Rule 26-1 given the fact that a competitor would risk incurring a penalty every time he makes an honest judgment as to the point where his ball last crosses a water-hazard margin and that judgment subsequently proves incorrect (Decision 26-1/17).”

Video via The Big Lead

The rivalry between Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia heated up again on Saturday during the third round of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass when Garcia complained that Tiger caused some noise while he was hitting a shot.

Garcia was getting ready to hit his second shot on No. 2 and was at the right side of the fairway. After he swung, he looked to his left where Woods was getting ready to play his shot. Apparently the crowd started to cheer as Woods brought out his 5-wood, which Garcia thought could have been avoided.

“I wouldn’t say [Tiger Woods] didn’t see that I was ready, but you do have a feel when the other guy is gonna hit,” Garcia said after his round, via Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner.

Tiger defended himself after the round, saying the marshal told him Garcia had already hit his shot.

“The marshal told me he already hit, so I pulled a club and was getting ready to play my shot,” Woods said, via Lavner.

Tiger also couldn’t resist getting in a little dig at the Spaniard.

“Not real surprising he’s complaining about something.”

During a rain delay, Garcia also mentioned in an interview that Woods’ actions “didn’t help very much.”

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The first round of any PGA tournament is typically a stress-free zone. Players are trying to get a feel for the course while simply remaining in close enough contention to make the cut on Friday. But tensions can run a little high when alligators start walking across the fairway — especially ones with three legs.

As you can see from the video above, a three-legged alligator walked across the course on Thursday at the Zurich Classic in Avondale, Louisiana. It was one of several gators that decided to come up for some sun while the players were trudging along. Here are a couple of photos from the scene that looked like it was straight out of one of those low-budget horror movies.

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