SAN DIEGO — Arms folded across his chest, Rocco Mediate stared at a small, square television to see if his life was about to change forevermore.
Mediate stood in a low-slung nondescript area behind the 18th hole grandstand at the Torrey Pines Golf Course, a space so cramped he ducked his head to avoid wires hanging from the ceiling. He could not see the 18th green, where minutes earlier, he made par to take a one-stroke lead in the fourth round of the 2008 United States Open.
Mediate, ranked 158th in the world at the time, was trying to become the oldest man, at 45, to win the event.