JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Does Rocco Mediate still love playing golf and competing at the age of 61 as much as he did more than 33 years ago when the brash, mop-topped 27-year-old from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, won the first of his six PGA Tour titles at Doral?
“Yes, he does,” said Mediate, after posting a 66 on Saturday at the Timuquana Country Club to earn a share of the lead in the Constellation Furyk & Friends with Bob Estes, at 11-under 133.
And he’s primarily motivated by a numbers game that would show some remarkable career consistency: Mediate has won a combination of 10 PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions titles in his 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s and is the final group on Sunday with a chance to add a trophy for his 60s.
“That would be cool,” Mediate said. “It’s hard to do, as we all know.”
Mediate is making it look all too easy through 36 holes.
Mediate, Estes made runs on opposite sides of the course
Mediate shot 4-under on the front nine to surge into the lead, capped by a bunker shot he holed for birdie at the par-4 ninth hole. He turned and made his only bogey of the week at No. 10, but birdied Nos. 11, 12 and 15, then made two clutch par putts of four feet at Nos. 16 and 18 to save his spot in the last group.
Estes (67) made his run on the back nine, going 5 under during a five-hole stretch that began when he holed a 60-degree wedge from 87 yards at the par-4 12th hole.
World Golf Hall of Fame member and three-time major champion Vijay Singh of nearby Ponte Vedra Beach and Mario Tiziani shot their second 68s of the week and are tied at 8 under, three behind Mediate and Estes.
Singh, in the same group as Tiziani, putted out first to get a spot in the final threesome, which will tee off nearly two hours early at 9:51 a.m. because of Sunday’s weather forecast.
Singh could have an edge on a wet course
Singh failed to make a birdie on the front-nine par-5 holes but birdied both on the back. He had a stellar ball-striking day, missing only two fairways and two greens.
“It was solid … I drove the ball well and left a couple out there,” he said. “The par-5s [were] in position to make birdies and [I] did not. That was disappointing because you got to take advantage of the length here. Had few opportunities out there but played pretty solid. Did not do anything drastically wrong, you know, so happy the way I’m playing.”
Estes said if the course takes on more rain, Singh might have the edge with his…
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