Here’s playoff game we probably won’t give a rat’s ass about.

For all ya’ll who are simply engrossed with the 2008 NBA Finals that you can’t possibly handle another playoff game to go nuts about, the 2008 U.S. Open golf tournament has been narrowed down to a pivotal playoff game between the two remaining participants. It’s sudden death so all ya’ll golf aficionados are probably salivating just about now.

And as expected, Tiger Woods is one of two guys going for the latest major of the golfing calendar. After knocking off a 12-foot putt that bumped along toward the hole and swirled into the back corner of the cup without an inch to spare, golf fans can’t wait to see what tricks will Tiger come up next for the title on Monday.

Standing across him is 158th ranked Rocco Mediate. You probably don’t know squat who the heck this guy is. We don’t know much about him either but since anything can happen in sports, betting on this guy, who’ll definitely come in as the underdog, will earn you a whole lot of money. Of course, betting against Tiger Woods is always a difficult decision.

Both players finished the 2008 U.S. Open at 1-under 283, the first time since 2004 that someone broke par in a U.S. Open. Mediate closed with an even-par 71, missing a chance to eliminate Woods when his wedge to the 18th stayed atop the ridge and left him a 30-footer that he two-putted for par.

This marks the first playoff at the U.S. Open, the only major that goes 18 holes of overtime, since Retief Goosen defeated Mark Brooks at Southern Hills in 2001.

Tiger Woods had such a clean lie in the bunker that he might have gone for the green. Instead, he hit a terrible shot to the right and into the rough, and had to hope that his 60-degree wedge was the right choice. It settled 12 feet away, giving him yet another putt that he couldn’t afford to miss.

‘’A little wobbly down there,'’ Woods said of the poa greens, a grass that gets bumpier in the afternoon sun. ‘’I played probably 2 ½ holes outside right. Just take it back and make a pure stroke, because once it starts slowing down there. You don’t know what’s going to happen. All I could control is my stroke.'’

And control he will this Monday with the 2008 U.S. Open title on the line.

Monday will not be the first time they have clashed. Rocco Mediate played with a 23-year-old Tiger Woods in the final round of the Phoenix Open in 1999, where he led by six shots and held on to win by three. It was one of his five PGA Tour victories.

For the record, Tiger Woods has never lost a major when he had at least a share of the 54-hole lead. Woods is 14-1 in playoffs, compared to Mediate’s 2-0 record.

Can Tiger Woods win the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines? Bodog sportsbook has the odds.

Tiger Woods 1.25

Rocco Mediate 3.75

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Tiger Woods Rocco Mediate