Tiger Woods arrived at Torrey Pines in June 2008 having not played competitively for two months. He had undergone knee surgery after the Masters, and was playing on a torn ACL and a double stress fracture of his left tibia — an injury he chose not to explain until the season was over.
Rocco Mediate was 45 years old and ranked 158th in the world. He had come through sectional qualifying to be there at all.
Woods birdied the 72nd hole on Sunday to force an 18-hole playoff — the U.S. Open was the last major still settling ties over a full extra round. On Monday the two of them played eighteen more holes and finished level again. Mediate led by one with three to play; Woods birdied the 18th for the second day running to stay alive.
It went to sudden death. Woods won on the 91st hole of the week.
He did not play again that season. Eight days later he announced reconstructive surgery on the knee, and his next tournament was in February 2009 — a gap our own record shows plainly: his 2008 results stop at this event and do not resume for eight months.
It remains the last major Woods won before an eleven-year wait, and the one he has repeatedly called his best.