Pressure-free Mediate looks forward to Shriners golf tournament

The pressure is off Rocco Mediate.

The PGA Tour veteran has secured his tour card for the next two years and proven that -- two months shy of his 48th birthday -- he is still capable of competing and winning against the tour's young talent.

"It gives me a lot of confidence," said Mediate, who enters this week's Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at TPC Summerlin off a wire-to-wire win at the Frys.com Open in San Martin, Calif. "It changes everything. I was on the outside looking in; now I'm set for the next two years.

"I knew I could win again. I just hadn't done it. If I didn't believe I could win, I would have quit a long time ago."

Mediate's future didn't seem too bright when he arrived in Northern California a week ago. He was No. 182 on the tour's money list and looked like a long shot to crack the top 125 and keep his tour card.

He already was planning a trip to qualifying school.

But then something unexplainable happened at CordeValle: Mediate began holing eagle after eagle.

On Thursday, he had a hole-in-one at the par-3 No. 3. On Friday, he holed out at the par-4 No. 4. On Saturday, he made eagle at the par-5 No. 15. On Sunday, he finished the run with an eagle at the par-4 17th.

"I don't know how to explain it," Mediate said. "A lot of times, you hit a lot of good shots that don't go in. So it was nice to see some of them go in. It was definitely the difference between winning and losing."

The eagles allowed Mediate to win for the first time since 2002 at Greensboro, N.C., and canceled his Q-school trip to Florida. It also put his earnings for 2010 at $1,138,067, jumping him to No. 72 on the money list.

"I could see it coming," Mediate said. "I had switched putters, going to a long putter, and my putting was really good. My swing was better, and I was healthy. I really believed I was ready to break through."

With his immediate future seemingly secure, Mediate figures to enjoy his week in Las Vegas, which has not been kind to him in recent years.

He missed the cut at last year's Shriners tournament. He withdrew in 2008 after the first round with a sore back. His best finish was a tied for 14th in 1997 at the Las Vegas Invitational, which was played on three courses (TPC Summerlin, Desert Inn and Las Vegas Country Club).

"I wasn't in until Sunday," Mediate said. "I was going to come in as an alternate, but now I'm just going to come in (today) and enjoy myself.

"I've always liked (TPC) Summerlin. It's a course that seems to fit my game well, even though I've struggled the past few years. But I'm hoping I can use the momentum from winning last week and have it carry over. I don't plan on just going through the motions. Whenever you tee it up, you're playing to win."

■ NOTES -- Today's celebrity pro-am begins at 7 a.m. with host Justin Timberlake teeing off with playing partner Nick Watney at 11:20. ... Anthony Kim will be competing for the first time since early August. He had surgery on his left thumb in May and has played just once since. ... Six players who finished in the top 30 of the FedEx Cup final standings are in the field, the highest-ranked being former UNLV star Charley Hoffman, who finished fourth.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913.