Six minutes at CordeValle may have been golf's best in 2010

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Rocco Mediate couldn't have had a more magical week at the Frys.com Open -- four hole-out eagles and a job-clinching win.

If the Kentucky Derby has long been known as the "greatest two minutes in sports," Sunday's finish of the Frys.com Open offered its own Triple Crown of excitement.

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In a six-minute span, golf fans were treated to more electricity than a tropical storm and enough highlights to fill a time slot on "SportsCenter."

It all started when Rocco Mediate and Bo Van Pelt showed up on the 17th tee of the drivable par-4 at CordeValle Golf Club, tied for the lead at 13 under along with playing partner Alex Prugh, who was two shots back.

Mediate, having finally stopped the wreckage of a five-over round with a birdie on the par-3 16th, hit first and chose to lay up into the fairway with an iron. It was not a surprising move considering the wet conditions, as he's not a long hitter and he had eagled the hole the previous day after laying up and then holing out from the fairway for his third hole-out of the week (more on that later).

But Mediate had to feel like his eight-year wait for his sixth PGA TOUR title was going to be a little longer than his 194th start since the 2002 Greater Greensboro Classic when Van Pelt drove the green, leaving himself with a 20-foot eagle putt and, it seemed, at least a birdie.

Golf Channel announcer Peter Oosterhuis, for some reason, suggested the possibility of Prugh holing out his tee shot -- a preposterous notion considering there's only been one hole-on-one on a par-4 in PGA TOUR history (Andrew Magee on the par-4 17th hole at TPC Scottsdale in the 2001 Phoenix Open). But Oosterhuis was looking more like a genius that an overhyped announcer when Prugh's tee shot landed just a foot short of the cup and bounced over the hole for a tap-in eagle.

Things were just warming up.

After strolling to his tee shot, Mediate eyed his 116-yard wedge shot, no doubt hoping to re-create the previous day's heroics that gave him a three-shot cushion after 54 holes. Mediate even asked Prugh to mark his ball because it was so close to the hole and Mediate admitted the previous day's hole-out was "in his head." He wasn't the only one thinking déjà vu.

Again, Oosterhuis raised the notion of Mediate holing out his approach shot, and we all kind of rolled our eyes.

Then we were rubbing them in disbelief, as Mediate's wedge landed five feet behind the hole and sucked back into the cup for one of those I-don't-believe-what-I-just-saw moments (minus announcer Jack Buck and Kirk Gibson hobbling around the bases after his ninth-inning grand slam off Dennis Eckersley in the 1988 World Series).

Mediate couldn't believe it, either, tossing his wedge into the air and holding up his arms in disbelief. Suddenly, the guy that was leaking oil all day had a two-shot lead with one hole to play. As Mediate walked toward the green and his incredulous playing partners, you could lip-read him saying, "What in the (heck) is happening here?"

Just one of the craziest stretches of golf in recent PGA TOUR history.

"When it went in, I was like, 'You've got to be kidding me?' " Mediate said. "I don't know what to say. To hole out four shots in the same week is insane."

Things weren't about to return to normal any time soon, either. Van Pelt, no doubt rattled by the recent events, rolled his eagle putt six feet past and didn't come close on his birdie putt, leaving him two behind, along with Prugh, after he made his short eagle putt.

Mediate, playing safe on the final hole, left his approach shot 45 feet away from the cup, then knocked his first putt five feet by, raising the possibility of a playoff with a bogey and a birdie by his playing partners. Van Pelt still looked beaten -- until he rolled in his 38-foot birdie try, naturally.

Prugh followed by quickly holing a 10-foot birdie putt, leaving Mediate to face a knee-knocker, having already missed about a half-dozen short putts Sunday. One couldn't help but think back to the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, when Mediate would have claimed his only major title had Tiger Woods not birdied the 72nd hole and then beat him in a 19-hole playoff the next day. Mediate never doubted Woods would make that putt, and it sure didn't surprise him Sunday when Van Pelt and Prugh made their birdie putts to place all the pressure on him.

But Mediate, who plays every round as if he's with his buddies back at his country club on a Saturday morning, didn't hesitate. He quickly lined up the putt, took two practice putts and then stepped into the moment.

Before the ball was in the cup, he started walking away to celebrate, flinging his putter off the green in the excitement of the moment.

"I said earlier this week that I wanted a four- or five-footer that mattered," Mediate said. "I got one. The one thing that was cool today was I never quit. My nerves were like ice."

Nobody would disagree, especially the ones closest to what happened.

"To finish 2-2-4 like he did, you've got to tip your hat," said Van Pelt, who improved to a career-best 13th on the money list with two events left. "He was having a tough day. But he goes 2-2 and makes a nice putt on 18."

It capped off a magical week for Mediate. Not only had he become the oldest wire-to-wire winner (47 years, 10 months) on the PGA TOUR since records were kept in 1970, he became just the 12th player since 1983 to record eagles on a par-3, par-4 and a par-5 in a tournament. And, oh, yeah, he entered the week ranked an unsightly 182nd on the TOUR's money list, with no top-10s in his previous 23 starts.

"I have a job again," Mediate said. "I had signed up for TOUR (q-) school. That's where I belonged until a half-hour ago. I don't belong there anymore."

Not after that finish. With the two-year exemption that goes to the winner, he's set on the PGA TOUR until he's eligible for the Champions Tour in 2013. The $900,000 first prize moved him to 72nd on the money list.

A look at the final standing would show he shot a two-over 73 to win by a shot. But that only tells a fraction of the story for the guy who won over so many fans with his near-miss at Torrey Pines.

It took more than two years, but the golfing Gods are finally even-par with Mediate.