On-Course Interviews And Rocco

Champions Tour rookie and winner of his first event, Rocco Mediate, held court today in the Toshiba Classic interview room.

Specifically, he talked about his win at the Allianz Championship despite those pesky on-course interviews by Billy Ray Brown. The same mid-round chats that would cause today's PGA Tour players to whine endlessly about the sheer horror of having to speak while maneuvering their scalpel so close to the patient's brain stem.

ROCCO MEDIATE:  Yeah, on‑course interviews.  We would love you to talk to people on the course, you know.  Billy Ray and I have talked 600 times already in the first two weeks.  I went, I can't wait for that to happen because we should do that on the regular tour.  See, it's not any different.  That's what drives me crazy.  Like, oh, you can't talk to the guys because they're playing.  What?  It's still a trophy.  I don't care if it's a million dollars or 300,000 to win.  It's a trophy.  So why is the Tour going, You can't talk to the guys because God forbid if you talk to them?  It's horse crap.  There's no difference.  It's just as ‑‑ I mean, winning anywhere is the same or being in contention is the same.  Why can't you say something walking on the fairway? 

Could you imagine talking to Tiger coming down the last hole?  Wouldn't it be cool though?  What he's actually thinking?  He might be going, yeah, I'm thinking of dinner tonight, thinking of where I'm going to dinner.  Who knows what he'd say?  But I'd like to hear it, see.  As a fan, I'd like to hear what he's thinking.  It's got to go that way because, you know, money is tough to come by.  They need something else.  We have it here.