Rocco Mediate put his own, personal spin on how he felt about the 9-under-par 63 that gave him a three-shot lead after one round of the Chubb Classic on Friday in Naples, Fla.
“There was no suck in that round. Zero suck,” Mediate said.
Mediate holed out for eagle at the par-4 third at Tiburon Golf Club to kickstart his day. After adding four birdies to go out in 6-under 29, Mediate’s only misstep was a bogey at the par-4 13th, which he erased by birdieing the next four holes.
He enters the weekend with a comfortable cushion over South Africa’s Ernie Els, Germany’s Alex Cejka and Australia’s Mark Hensby, who are tied at 6-under 66.
Mediate described the unusual circumstances that preceded his eagle.
“I kind of overdrew it, or you could call it a hook, on (his drive on) 3,” Mediate said. “I thought, ‘OK, it’s in the hazard. That’s where it belongs.’ As I’m walking up, (his caddie) is way up in front, and I’m looking, and I almost stepped on my ball, which hit something and came back 80 yards in the first — it was a perfect lie, 174, 175 yards.
“Then I just made a 2. Hit a 5-iron in the hole.”
The 61-year-old has won four times on the PGA Tour Champions, but not since September 2019.
“I want to win in my 60s,” Mediate said. “It’s as simple as that. That’s what I want to do.
“I think I’ve given myself — not this round, but what I’ve done to this, maybe an opportunity sometime, whether it’s this week, who cares. Everyone says, ‘Well, it’s only the first round.’ Yeah, but it was nice to come out fast.”
Els, the former World No. 1 with four major titles and three PGA Tour Champions wins to his name, was perfect till a bogey 5 at the 17th hole, which he made up for by birdieing the par-5 18th.
“It’s out there,” Els said of the possibility of low scores. “There’s no wind. Although I made some good putts, more missed putts. I missed about four or five makeable putts, and obviously Rocco didn’t make any mistakes. But it’s out there.”
Tied for fifth at 5-under 67 are Scott Dunlap, Ken Tanigawa, Joe Durant, New Zealand’s Steven Alker and Canada’s Stephen Ames.
Other notable names down the leaderboard include Steve Stricker (3-under 69), Ireland’s Padraig Harrington (69), John Daly (2-under 70), Jerry Kelly (70) and South Korea’s K.J. Choi (70).
–Field Level Media