Are You Kidding Me?: The Story of Rocco Mediate's Extraordinary Battle With Tiger Woods at the US Open by John Feinstein, Rocco Mediate Read Free Book Online Page B
Authors: John Feinstein, Rocco Mediate
want to play for your golf team.’ ”
Being a transfer, Rocco wasn’t eligible to play for the team for two semesters. But he could practice with them. Matlock told
him he would be allowed to play in a 10-round — nine holes a day — event. If he was among the top ten finishers, he could
practice with the team. If not, he would be on his own.
“The first day I played with Marco Dawson and Jeff Schmucker. I shot 35, which wasn’t bad. Marco shot 30, Jeff shot 31. Coach
Matlock came up to me afterward and said, ‘So, what do you think of my boys?’ I said to him, ‘I want to be one of them.’ ”
He ended up making the cut — finishing 10th. The good news was he was part of the team; the bad news was… he was part of the
team.
Matlock had been a college football player at East Tennessee State and had coached football until he arrived at Florida Southern
in 1972 and was asked to add coaching the golf team to his other coaching and teaching duties. “I didn’t start playing until
late,” he said. “But I got to be a pretty good player.”
He was good enough to beat Andy Bean, who would go on to be a ten-time winner on the tour, in his club championship in 1970,
and he threw himself into coaching the golf team with great zeal. By the time Rocco arrived, Matlock had worked out a finely
tuned practice system that included what he called “boot camp.” Players were expected to report to the coach at 6:21 A.M.
three days a week — “I always thought if you give them an unusual time, they’ll remember it,” he said — to run three miles
and then follow that with a workout.
“I always told the guys that when they were running they should picture themselves playing 15, 16, 17, and 18 on a hot day,”
Maltock said. “Because that’s what this was about — making sure they still had their legs for the last few holes.”
Rocco wasn’t thrilled initially with the predawn wake-ups or the early-morning runs, but soon after embraced the Matlock work
ethic. It fit in with his obsessive-compulsive approach to golf.
“I would get up in the morning and run, then go hit some balls before class started,” he said. “Coach Matlock always told
us not to schedule a first-period class so we had time to hit some balls in the morning or chip or putt. I would go to class
from eight thirty to one and be at the golf course at one twenty. Then I’d spend the rest of the day playing or practicing
or both. After a while, I went into Coach and said, ‘Well, I’m playing from sunup to sundown, what do you think?’ He looked
at me and said, ‘Can’t you work a little harder?’ Maybe he was joking, but I went out and found a driving range with lights
so I could hit balls after dark. Nothing was going to stop me.”
No one, including Rocco, is sure when he found time to get schoolwork done, but he did — barely. Matlock had a rule that players
had to maintain a C average to play, and Rocco did that — barely. Matlock only had four players fail to graduate in twenty-three
years at Florida Southern, and Rocco was one of them. “He was only ten credits short,” he said, laughing twenty-four years
after Rocco finished his senior season of golf. “I guess he’s not going to go back and get them at this point.”
In the fall of 1983, Rocco’s second semester at Florida Southern, Matlock brought in a late recruit named Lee Janzen. He had
spotted Janzen during a junior tournament that summer and, knowing he was planning to go to Brevard Junior College in the
fall because no four-year school had recruited him, offered him a partial scholarship. Janzen jumped at it because of the
school’s golf pedigree and enrolled two weeks after Matlock offered him the chance to come to school.
Rocco’s roommate that fall was Jim Wilhelm, one of the more popular players on the team. “We used to hang out in Jim’s room
a lot,” Janzen remembered. “When Rocco and I first met, we
Being a transfer, Rocco wasn’t eligible to play for the team for two semesters. But he could practice with them. Matlock told
him he would be allowed to play in a 10-round — nine holes a day — event. If he was among the top ten finishers, he could
practice with the team. If not, he would be on his own.
“The first day I played with Marco Dawson and Jeff Schmucker. I shot 35, which wasn’t bad. Marco shot 30, Jeff shot 31. Coach
Matlock came up to me afterward and said, ‘So, what do you think of my boys?’ I said to him, ‘I want to be one of them.’ ”
He ended up making the cut — finishing 10th. The good news was he was part of the team; the bad news was… he was part of the
team.
Matlock had been a college football player at East Tennessee State and had coached football until he arrived at Florida Southern
in 1972 and was asked to add coaching the golf team to his other coaching and teaching duties. “I didn’t start playing until
late,” he said. “But I got to be a pretty good player.”
He was good enough to beat Andy Bean, who would go on to be a ten-time winner on the tour, in his club championship in 1970,
and he threw himself into coaching the golf team with great zeal. By the time Rocco arrived, Matlock had worked out a finely
tuned practice system that included what he called “boot camp.” Players were expected to report to the coach at 6:21 A.M.
three days a week — “I always thought if you give them an unusual time, they’ll remember it,” he said — to run three miles
and then follow that with a workout.
“I always told the guys that when they were running they should picture themselves playing 15, 16, 17, and 18 on a hot day,”
Maltock said. “Because that’s what this was about — making sure they still had their legs for the last few holes.”
Rocco wasn’t thrilled initially with the predawn wake-ups or the early-morning runs, but soon after embraced the Matlock work
ethic. It fit in with his obsessive-compulsive approach to golf.
“I would get up in the morning and run, then go hit some balls before class started,” he said. “Coach Matlock always told
us not to schedule a first-period class so we had time to hit some balls in the morning or chip or putt. I would go to class
from eight thirty to one and be at the golf course at one twenty. Then I’d spend the rest of the day playing or practicing
or both. After a while, I went into Coach and said, ‘Well, I’m playing from sunup to sundown, what do you think?’ He looked
at me and said, ‘Can’t you work a little harder?’ Maybe he was joking, but I went out and found a driving range with lights
so I could hit balls after dark. Nothing was going to stop me.”
No one, including Rocco, is sure when he found time to get schoolwork done, but he did — barely. Matlock had a rule that players
had to maintain a C average to play, and Rocco did that — barely. Matlock only had four players fail to graduate in twenty-three
years at Florida Southern, and Rocco was one of them. “He was only ten credits short,” he said, laughing twenty-four years
after Rocco finished his senior season of golf. “I guess he’s not going to go back and get them at this point.”
In the fall of 1983, Rocco’s second semester at Florida Southern, Matlock brought in a late recruit named Lee Janzen. He had
spotted Janzen during a junior tournament that summer and, knowing he was planning to go to Brevard Junior College in the
fall because no four-year school had recruited him, offered him a partial scholarship. Janzen jumped at it because of the
school’s golf pedigree and enrolled two weeks after Matlock offered him the chance to come to school.
Rocco’s roommate that fall was Jim Wilhelm, one of the more popular players on the team. “We used to hang out in Jim’s room
a lot,” Janzen remembered. “When Rocco and I first met, we
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