Rocco Mediate admits: At times, I played while drunk

Greensburg native Rocco Mediate made a personal revelation.

The former PGA pro admitted that he had alcohol problems while on the tour and would even, at times, play while drunk.

A story from The Golf Channel, quotes Mediate saying that drinking was a way to self-medicate for his back problems. And it wasn’t rare for him to play while under the influence of alcohol.

“Absolutely I have (played while drinking),” he said during a Golf Channel instructional program. “Because it was just normal for me. It was just a daily ritual, let’s say. You can put it in a lot of places. A lot of places. Was it every time? No. But most of the time when the pain came in, it wasn’t not going to happen.”

Mediate, you might recall, lost a playoff at the 2008 U.S. Open to Tiger Woods — who has struggled with his own issues when it comes to a bad back and alcohol.

When Woods had his DUI arrest in 2017, Mediate says he could relate.

“When that happened, I went, ‘Mm-hmm, yeah. I just didn’t get caught,’” Mediate told The Golf Channel. “But when it comes to that type of pain, you’ll basically do whatever it takes to be able to go, ‘Oh, that feels better.’”

During the interview, Mediate says that he stopped drinking in October 2017.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@tribweb.com or via Twitter @TimBenzPGH. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.