Who did Tiger Woods defeat in a playoff at the 2008 U.S. Open?

Who did Tiger Woods defeat in a playoff at the 2008 U.S. Open? He defeated Rocco Mediate.

The 2008 U.S. Open took place at Torrey Pines Golf Course’s South Course in San Diego. Woods and Mediate finished the regulation 72 holes tied at 1 under par, requiring an 18-hole playoff on Monday. They remained tied after that extra round, so the championship was decided by sudden death.

Woods won on the first sudden-death hole, the par-four seventh. Mediate’s tee shot found a fairway bunker, while Woods left his birdie putt just short and made par. Mediate missed his par-saving putt, giving Woods his third U.S. Open title and 14th major championship.

The victory was particularly dramatic because Woods was playing with a painful left knee. He had undergone arthroscopic surgery two months earlier and later revealed that he had also been dealing with a double stress fracture in his left tibia. The other listed names were notable golfers, but none was Woods’s playoff opponent.