Tiger Woods, who has nursed a painful knee all week, rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt at the last on Sunday to join fellow American Rocco Mediate in an 18-hole playoff for the 108th U.S. Open.
Heavy favourite to win his 14th major title after going into the final round a stroke in front of the chasing pack, Woods looked skywards and pumped his fists after the putt dropped.
“It was a little wobbly down there,” the world number one told reporters of his putt, the first of any distance he made on the day as the greens became bumpier in the late afternoon.
“The putt was probably about two-and-a-half balls outside right and the green wasn’t very smooth. I kept telling myself make a pure stroke. I hit it exactly where I wanted to.”
Mediate, who won the last of his four PGA Tour titles at the 2002 Greater Greensboro Classic, had led by a shot with one hole to play.
“You can’t ever expect him to miss,” the 45-year-old and world number 157 said of Woods’s last-gasp putt. “I will just have to get ready for a battle royale tomorrow.”
The pair finished the 72 regulation holes at one-under-par 283 on a difficult afternoon of scoring on the South Course at Torrey Pines in the final round.
Twice champion Woods, who has never lost a major when holding at least a share of the lead after 54 holes, closed with a two-over 73 after Mediate had signed off with a 71.
The pair will return to the course on Monday for the playoff, starting at 0900 local (1600 GMT).
Britain’s Lee Westwood, aiming to become the first European winner since fellow Englishman Tony Jacklin in 1970, had to settle for third place at level par after carding a 73.
Westwood, who had led by one with nine holes to play, also had a chance of joining the playoff but missed his birdie attempt from 18 feet on the 18th green.
It is the first time the U.S. Open will be decided in extra time since South African Retief Goosen beat American Mark Brooks at Southern Hills in 2001.
“I’m looking forward to it, I’ve never been in this position before in a U.S. Open,” said Woods, whose only playoff victories in majors came at the 2000 PGA Championship and the 2005 Masters.
Mediate, Woods and Westwood each held the outright lead as the final round unfolded in scrappy fashion with pars at a premium.
Woods, U.S. Open champion in 2000 and 2002, made an ugly start by dropping three shots in the first two holes.
He double-bogeyed the first after pulling his tee shot left of the cart path and hitting trees with his second and third shots before three-putting for bogey at the par-four second.
After parring the next six holes, he picked up his first shot at the par-five ninth where he reached the green in two.
Woods, who had surgery on his left knee two months ago, finally regained the lead with a birdie at the 11th, using the contours of the green to hit his tee shot to five feet.
He coolly rolled in the putt to edge one stroke clear at two under, sparking a huge roar from the gallery packed around the green.
However, he surrendered the initiative by bogeying the par-five 13th where he had to take a penalty drop.
Woods, who had eagled the hole in the previous two rounds, reached the elevated green with his fourth and two-putted for a six to slip back to one under.
Mediate edged ahead after collecting his third birdie of the round at the 267-yard 14th where he drove into a greenside bunker and got up and down.
Although he bogeyed the 15th to slip back to one under, Woods faltered at the same hole after missing the fairway to the right before forcing the playoff at the last.
U.S. Open Scores
283 Rocco Mediate 69 71 72 71, Tiger Woods 72 68 70 73
284 Lee Westwood (Eng) 70 71 70 73
286 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 70 70 75 71, D.J. Trahan 72 69 73 72
287 John Merrick 73 72 71 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 75 66 74 72, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 71 71 77 68
288 Eric Axley 69 79 71 69, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 69 73 72 74, Camilo Villegas (Col) 73 71 71 73, Brandt Snedeker 76 73 68 71, Heath Slocum 75 74 74 65
289 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 74 70 75 70, Ernie Els (Rsa) 70 72 74 73, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 76 69 77 67, Stewart Cink 72 73 77 67
290 Phil Mickelson 71 75 76 68, Hunter Mahan 72 74 69 75, Chad Campbell 77 72 71 70, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 76 70 70 74, Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 72 73 75, Mike Weir (Can) 73 74 69 74, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 74 75 70 71, Brandt Jobe 73 75 69 73
291 Anthony Kim 74 75 70 72, Adam Scott (Aus) 73 73 75 70, Boo Weekley 73 76 70 72
292 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 74 73 71 74, Patrick Sheehan 71 74 74 73, Steve Stricker 73 76 71 72, Michael Thompson 74 73 73 72, Bart Bryant 75 70 78 69, Jeff Quinney 79 70 70 73, Scott Verplank 72 72 74 74
293 Pat Perez 75 73 75 70, Oliver Wilson (Eng) 72 71 74 76, Robert Dinwiddie (Eng) 73 71 75 74, Joe Ogilvie 71 76 73 73, Andres Romero (Arg) 71 73 77 72, Todd Hamilton 74 74 73 72, Jon Mills (Can) 72 75 75 71, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 73 75 75 70, Justin Leonard 75 72 75 71, Jim Furyk 74 71 73 75, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 69 70 79 75, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 78 67 77 71
294 Dustin Johnson 74 72 75 73, John Rollins 75 68 79 72, Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 75 74 74 71, Matt Kuchar 73 73 76 72, Tim Clark (Rsa) 73 72 74 75
295 Ben Crane 75 72 77 71, Davis Love III 72 69 76 78, Soren Hansen (Den) 78 70 76 71, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 75 70 73 77, Kevin Streelman 68 77 78 72
296 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 73 72 75 76, Stephen Ames (Can) 74 74 77 71
297 Nick Watney 73 75 77 72, Brett Quigley 73 72 77 75, David Toms 76 72 72 77, Alastair Forsyth (Sco) 76 73 74 74, Rickie Fowler 70 79 76 72
298 Paul Casey (Eng) 79 70 76 73, Vijay Singh (Fij) 71 78 76 73, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 75 73 72 78, John Mallinger 73 75 78 72
299 D.A. Points 74 71 77 77, Derek Fathauer 73 73 78 75
300 Woody Austin 72 72 77 79, Andrew Dresser 76 73 79 72, Andrew Svoboda 77 71 74 78
301 Justin Hicks 68 80 75 78, Ian Leggatt (Can) 72 76 76 77, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 77 72 77 75
303 Ross McGowan (Eng) 76 72 78 77
304 Chris Kirk 75 74 78 77, Rich Beem 74 74 80 76
