[The $147,000 Mediate won last weekend vaulted him into the top 30 on the 2003 PGA Tour Money Leaders list, which, if he stays there, would earn him a spot in the season-ending Tour Championship in November. That's a goal, he said, but his recent good play has him aiming slightly higher.] I'm getting closer to the winning thing, ... Earlier in the year, everybody was asking, 'What's wrong?' I had a period from March through June where my body just wasn't feeling that good. You can't come out here at 50 percent and beat the best. This week was fun, finally, again. It was almost really good. |
A lot of people you grew up around have no idea what it takes to be successful in this profession, ... I've heard that a lot of people have said, 'Oh, he'll never make it.' I'm not sure what their definition of 'making it' is, but I'm pretty satisfied with what I've done. |
A lot of strange things happened out there today -- a lot of them. I almost couldn't go off No. 10 (because of back pain that dogged him the last two days). I almost went to my knees on No. 12. |
A par would have been just fine. But it was cool to make the putt because it wasn't easy. It was getting dark, but I didn't want to sit on it all night and think about the putt. I could see just enough, knew what it did and happened to make it. |
Absolutely, I knew it was coming. |
Actually, they didn't. But I'd tell them, 'Just look at last year's U.S. Open,' and then they shut up. |
All I do is play golf better than some of the people in the United States. Other than that, I'm nothing special. |
All of that is way less of a concern than it was earlier in the year, |
An absolute marvelous golf swing, one of our best by far. I like seeing that because it gets me trying to do the same thing. He's very, very calm. He's not going anywhere, that guy. He's really, really good. |
An absolutely marvelous golf swing, one of our best by far, and tremendous striker of the golf ball. I like seeing that because it gets me trying to do the same thing. But he's calm, very calm. |
As any athlete knows, momentum is the most unstoppable force in sports. The only way to stop it is if you get in your own way, start making stupid mistakes or stop believing in yourself. |
As long as he?s upright, he?s close. |
As long as he's upright, he's close. |
But I have to do something real special these last 32 holes to win this golf tournament. Some other guys, even though they're behind me right now, just have to play well. I have to do more than that. |
But people ask me all the time, 'Rock, why aren't you involved?' and I say, I don't know. No one has asked me. That's disappointing. I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed I haven't been asked to help. I don't want money to promote the tournament. It's just that no one asked me. |