JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Get ready, Francesca Mediate. You’re getting a trophy and a trip to Vegas.
Rocco Mediate had several reasons for wanting to win the Constellation Furyk & Friends this week at the Timuquana Country Club.
One is because he still has the desire at the age of 61.
Another was a personal goal to win a PGA Tour or PGA Tour Champions event in each decade since he won at Doral in 1991 at the age of 27.
But there was one a bit more personal: he wanted his 9-year-old daughter Francesca to see him win on TV, then cradle the trophy he brings to their Scottsdale, Arizona, home.
Francesca was 4 when he last won, at the 2019 Sanford International, and has little memory of it.
“That doesn’t count,” said Mediate, a native of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, who lived in Ponte Vedra, Florida, for nearly 20 years.
She’ll remember this one. Dad parred the second playoff hole on a 3-foot putt to turn back Bob Estes in the first sudden-death finish in the four-year history of the tournament and captured his fifth PGA Tour Champions title and 11th overall, counting his six PGA Tour victories.
“She’s going to love this,” Mediate said, holding the bronze and nickel Furyk & Friends trophy in the shape of a guitar, symbolizing the annual concert that is a part of the tournament schedule. “She’ll be playing this in her room.”
Tournament came down to Mediate vs. Estes
Both players shot 71 on a soggy, sullen day at Timuquana to finish at 12-under-par 204. There was a 16-minute delay just before 11 a.m. to squeeze standing water off several greens and somehow the rest of the round was completed with only a few sprinkles.
Several contenders made brief runs at the lead but fell back. Greg Chalmers (68) finished third and six players, led by two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen (67) and past British Open champion Darren Clarke (69). Another day of low scoring contributed to a tournament-record scoring average of 71.281, breaking the previous record by more than half a shot.
But one by one, the contenders ran out of holes and it turned into a match-play scenario for much of the back nine between Mediate and Estes, who began the day tied for the lead at 11-under.
Estes is still seeking his first PGA Tour Champions victory after 126 starts. His runner-up finish at Timuquana is his sixth top 10 of the season and 25th of his career.
“I’m still trying to figure some things out,” said the four-time PGA Tour winner. “I didn’t play great this week but I managed the game well and putted fairly well. Obviously this was one of my better tournaments so maybe I’m making progress.”
“A wonderful player … great guy,” Mediate said of Estes. “He could have won just as easily as I did.”
Mediate had a three-shot lead with four to play
Mediate birdied Nos. 12 and 13 to build a three-shot lead standing on the tee of the par-5 15th. But Estes shaved it to one when he two-putted for birdie after muscling a 3-wood 245 yards onto the green, against a freshening wind. Mediate bogeyed after coming up short with his third shot and knocking his chip from a horrid lie in the rough 15 feet past the hole, then missing the par attempt.
Estes tied Mediate with a 3-foot birdie putt at No. 16 but Mediate regained the lead with a 12-foot putt for birdie at the par-3 17th. Mediate had a chance to win in regulation but lost his one-shot lead when he three-putted the 18th green from 60 feet and Estes parred.
“The putts I hit in regulation, I hit exactly like I wanted,” Mediate said. “That’s how it goes. [Timuquana architect] Donald Ross built them for green speeds that were seven of eight [on the Stimpmeter]. Now they’re, 12, 13. They really become difficult.”
Both players struggled in the playoff
Mediate and Estes each made sloppy bogeys on the first playoff, missing the fairway and the green. Estes eventually made a 15-foot par putt after a poor chip from a buried lie on the right of the green and Mediate made a 10-footer for par on top of that.
Mediate hit the fairway in the second hole and Estes, who had missed several key drives to the right on the back nine, pulled one to the left and into a fairway bunker that leaves a long second shot over a deceptive lip.
Estes was 60 yards short of the green. Mediate landed his second shot on the front of the green, lagged a 40-foot putt to within one pace of the hole, then tapped in after Estes hit his third shot to within 15 feet and missed the par attempt.
Mediate vaults 17 spots on the money list
Mediate earned $315,000 and jumped from 30th on the Charles Schwab Cup money standings to 13th, at $912,453. He has finished among the top 10 in three consecutive starts and has converted a 36 hole lead or co-lead into a victory in three of four attempts.
He knows there’s no catching money leader Ernie Els in the upcoming Schwab Cup playoffs, which leads to Francesca’s second bonus: the trip to Las Vegas during her school’s fall break.
Rocco Mediate displays his trophy for winning the Constellation Furyk & Friends PGA Tour Champions event on Oct. 6 at the Timuquana Country Club. With him are tournament hosts Jim and Tabitha Furyk.
Dad has it all mapped out: the Cirque du Soleil, the wax museum and gondola rides.
“Stuff I would never do,” he said.
But All-World girl dad that he is, nothing’s too good for Francesca. And $315,000 will buy a lot of souvenirs.
