Free Are You Kidding Me?: The Story of Rocco Mediate's Extraordinary Battle With Tiger Woods at the US Open by John Feinstein, Rocco Mediate Page A
Authors: John Feinstein, Rocco Mediate
behind Steve Jones and Steve Elkington — both future major champions. That sent him
back to the tour in 1987, but this time he went with a completely different attitude. The scared rookie had become a confident
veteran.
“You learn
so
much your first year out there about everything,” he said. “You learn how to travel, you learn about the golf courses, you
learn how to live out of a suitcase, and you learn how not to be intimidated. That was my biggest challenge. When I went out
there the second year, I had a lot more confidence in my golf swing and in my ability to compete. I didn’t think I was as
good as Greg Norman or Tom Watson, but I didn’t think I had to be.”
During that second year, in 1987, he started to find a comfort zone on the tour. He became close friends with Jim Carter,
who was two years older than he was and had made it to the tour for the first time at the 1986 Q-School. Because their caddies
were good friends, Carter asked Rocco if he would like to play with him in the team championships, a late-season unofficial
event in California. Mediate said yes, and a friendship was born.
“In those days Rocc was a lot quieter than he is now,” Carter remembered. “I think when he talks about wondering if he belonged
— that’s something we all feel when we’re first out there and don’t know if we’re going to be good enough to stay out there.
We spent a lot of time together with our wives until kids came along and they stopped coming out as much. Back then, Linda
was a lot more outgoing than Rocco was.”
Linda Newell had come into Rocco’s life in the summer of 1986. He had taken a break from the grind of the tour and come home
for a week to visit his family. He had walked into his dad’s salon and instantly noticed that there was a new nail technician
at work. She was a junior at the University of Pittsburgh– Greensburg and was paying her way through school by working at
Anthony’s.
“Rocco took one look at her and said, ‘Dad, is it okay if I ask her out?’ ” Tony Mediate said. “I told him it was up to her,
not me. He asked, she went, and by the end of the year she was long gone from the salon. They were a couple from that day
on.”
Rocco hadn’t had much time for a social life once he’d gotten hooked on golf in high school. His mother remembers begging
him to go to the movies with friends or to a dance and being told there just wasn’t time. In college he had a girlfriend for
a while, but, according to Janzen, that had ended when the girlfriend had said something along the lines of ‘If you want to
keep dating me, you have to spend less time at the golf course and more time with me.’
“She had no shot to win that battle,” Janzen said. “It was pretty much over after that.”
Rocco had met someone earlier that summer at the Canadian Open, but once he met Linda, things happened very fast — for both
of them.
“To be honest, I wasn’t very interested in meeting him,” Linda said. “I had started working at Anthony’s in April, and every
week starting on Thursday there was, well, hysteria in the place about how Rocco was playing, about whether he could make
the cut. If he didn’t make the cut, Tony would be in a terrible mood all weekend. If he did make the cut, that was all anyone
at the salon talked about.
“My older brother was a good golfer, he had made the state championships on several occasions, but I was never really into
golf or sports. By the time he came into the salon that day, I was pretty sick of hearing ‘Rocco this and Rocco that’ all
the time.”
Linda Newell had grown up on a farm in the tiny town of Stahlstown, the youngest of four children. “We had an apple tree in
the backyard and lots and lots of wheat growing behind it,” she said. “It was kind of the classic farm upbringing. The thing
I loved to do most was read. I would go to the library and find the biggest book I could
back to the tour in 1987, but this time he went with a completely different attitude. The scared rookie had become a confident
veteran.
“You learn
so
much your first year out there about everything,” he said. “You learn how to travel, you learn about the golf courses, you
learn how to live out of a suitcase, and you learn how not to be intimidated. That was my biggest challenge. When I went out
there the second year, I had a lot more confidence in my golf swing and in my ability to compete. I didn’t think I was as
good as Greg Norman or Tom Watson, but I didn’t think I had to be.”
During that second year, in 1987, he started to find a comfort zone on the tour. He became close friends with Jim Carter,
who was two years older than he was and had made it to the tour for the first time at the 1986 Q-School. Because their caddies
were good friends, Carter asked Rocco if he would like to play with him in the team championships, a late-season unofficial
event in California. Mediate said yes, and a friendship was born.
“In those days Rocc was a lot quieter than he is now,” Carter remembered. “I think when he talks about wondering if he belonged
— that’s something we all feel when we’re first out there and don’t know if we’re going to be good enough to stay out there.
We spent a lot of time together with our wives until kids came along and they stopped coming out as much. Back then, Linda
was a lot more outgoing than Rocco was.”
Linda Newell had come into Rocco’s life in the summer of 1986. He had taken a break from the grind of the tour and come home
for a week to visit his family. He had walked into his dad’s salon and instantly noticed that there was a new nail technician
at work. She was a junior at the University of Pittsburgh– Greensburg and was paying her way through school by working at
Anthony’s.
“Rocco took one look at her and said, ‘Dad, is it okay if I ask her out?’ ” Tony Mediate said. “I told him it was up to her,
not me. He asked, she went, and by the end of the year she was long gone from the salon. They were a couple from that day
on.”
Rocco hadn’t had much time for a social life once he’d gotten hooked on golf in high school. His mother remembers begging
him to go to the movies with friends or to a dance and being told there just wasn’t time. In college he had a girlfriend for
a while, but, according to Janzen, that had ended when the girlfriend had said something along the lines of ‘If you want to
keep dating me, you have to spend less time at the golf course and more time with me.’
“She had no shot to win that battle,” Janzen said. “It was pretty much over after that.”
Rocco had met someone earlier that summer at the Canadian Open, but once he met Linda, things happened very fast — for both
of them.
“To be honest, I wasn’t very interested in meeting him,” Linda said. “I had started working at Anthony’s in April, and every
week starting on Thursday there was, well, hysteria in the place about how Rocco was playing, about whether he could make
the cut. If he didn’t make the cut, Tony would be in a terrible mood all weekend. If he did make the cut, that was all anyone
at the salon talked about.
“My older brother was a good golfer, he had made the state championships on several occasions, but I was never really into
golf or sports. By the time he came into the salon that day, I was pretty sick of hearing ‘Rocco this and Rocco that’ all
the time.”
Linda Newell had grown up on a farm in the tiny town of Stahlstown, the youngest of four children. “We had an apple tree in
the backyard and lots and lots of wheat growing behind it,” she said. “It was kind of the classic farm upbringing. The thing
I loved to do most was read. I would go to the library and find the biggest book I could
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