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SAN DIEGO — It was a case of mind over meniscus.
Wincing in pain while playing on his surgically repaired left knee, and fighting every facet of his game Sunday, Tiger Woods made a 12-foot birdie putt on the final hole to force a Monday playoff with Rocco Mediate at the 108th U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.
The playoff will begin at noon EST, 9 a.m. local time.
Woods was in such obvious pain during a dramatic Saturday night charge up the leaderboard that some players speculated he might not even make it to the first tee Sunday. "There were rumors, is he going to play today," said Mediate, who played one group ahead of Woods and shot an even par 71, finishing tied with Woods at 1-under-par for the tournament. "That man will crawl around if he has to."
Woods overcame an ugly double-bogey, bogey start to shoot a final-round 73, punctuated by a traumatic, dramatic birdie at the last. He drove his ball errantly in the left fairway bunker, laid up errantly into the right rough, and then got up-and-down from 105 yards.
"That was actually one of the worst parts of the green," Woods said of his tying putt. "It's so bumpy down there. And I just kept telling myself two and a half balls outside the right, but make sure you stay committed to it, make a pure stroke, and if it plinkos in or plinkos out it doesn't matter, as long as I make a pure stroke. And I did. I hit it good. It took forever to break, but it finally snuck in there at the end."
Lee Westwood, trying to become the first European to win the U.S. Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970, led for part of the day but missed his own birdie putt on 18 that would have put him in the playoff. Playing with Woods in the final twosome, he shot 73 to finish even par, solo third.
Robert Karlsson (71) and D.J. Trahan (72) tied for fourth at 2-over for the tournament.
Woods has played hurt before, most memorably when he crushed the field by 11 shots at Bay Hill in 2003 in between bouts of on-course vomiting. But he's never competed quite like this. Every swing came with the possibility of a bolt of pain up his left leg, making this edition of Tiger Tales equal parts Kirk Gibson and Casey Martin.
Asked about the knee, Woods gave his characteristic reply: "It is what it is."
He will be playing for his 14th major championship title Monday, and his third U.S. Open trophy (the first since 2002). His 65th PGA Tour win would push him past Ben Hogan in career victories, behind only Jack Nicklaus (73) and Sam Snead (82). Woods is 13-0 when holding at least a share of the 54-hole lead at a major, and 43 for 46 overall on the PGA Tour.
On Sunday the world No. 1 at times seemed to be trying to outlast only his physical limitations, but the 45-year-old Mediate proved surprisingly tough. He scratched out 12 pars to go along with his three birdies and three bogeys, staying out in front much of the day. Only his bogey at the par-4 15th hole, where he hit the cart path off the tee, gave Woods a chance to perform his 11th-hour theatrics.
"One more day," Woods said. "I gave myself a chance. It looked like I was playing myself out of the tournament."
Woods's superb putting, on full display Friday and Saturday, was dormant most of Sunday. What's more, he showed signs that his physical discomfort was starting to erode his renowned mental toughness. He made an uncharacteristic error on the par-5 13th hole, playing for the green in two but blasting a 3-wood left into the tangled weeds and an unplayable lie. On a birdie hole for many others, he made a bogey 6.
He bogeyed the 15th hole, too, after losing his tee shot way right, a common miss for a player whose left knee grew increasingly painful as the tournament wore on.
Although the USGA utilized the new, way-back tee on the 13th hole, stretching it to all of its 614 yards on Sunday, the tee was moved well forward on the next hole, creating a driveable par-4 at 267 yards. In between clubs, Woods didn't go for it, and made par, while Mediate and Westwood did, and made birdie.
The tee also was moved up on the par-5 18th hole, where long-hitting Dustin Johnson blasted a drive within 200 yards of the green, and most players had a go at the green in two. All told the course played at 7,280, well off its maximum length of 7,643.
