Dan O'Neill

SAN DIEGO - When Tiger Woods produced one more piece of magic, when his 12-foot putt rolled into the 72nd cup of the U.S. Open on Sunday for a playoff-inducing birdie, Rocco Mediate immediately knew the ramifications. "I’m playing against a monster tomorrow," he said.

True enough, there will be a fear factor when Woods and Mediate show at the first tee at noon ET on Monday to play 18 holes of overtime at Torrey Pines. The biggest fear might be that Woods is not of this world, that he has no blood streaming through his veins, no conscience of which to speak.

How else do you explain what he’s done these past four days in San Diego? How else does one take off two months and then contend at a U.S. Open? How else do you escape the trouble Woods has known and extract a 72-hole score of 1-under par?

How else can you make sense of the condition that he has never lost when he has had the 54-hole lead at a major, that he rises to the occasion every time there is an occasion to which to rise? "I knew he would make that putt," Mediate said. "That’s what he does. That's how he rolls."

But there is a quid pro quo here, a consideration that perhaps makes one think that a player in the twilight of his career — 45-year-old Mediate — can hang with a monster in the prime of his career — the 32-year-old Woods.

The game's No. 1 player will have to walk the walk for a fifth day in a row. And according to the grimaces on his face and the crazy shots he has sprayed around the Pacific coast this week, Woods' surgically-repaired left knee is not improving with each trip around the grounds.

"It’s not better," Woods said when asked how his knee felt during Sunday’s round. He also acknowledged to getting a little pharmaceutical help to deal with the pain. "It is what it is," he added.

Fair enough, but will it be on Monday? Many were wondering if Woods' knee, competitively untested since he had cartilage removed on April 15, could hold up through four grueling excursions through a USGA mine field. Now he gets one to grow on.

"A lot of icing," Woods said, when asked what was in store for Sunday night. "Trying to get the swelling out, just trying to make sure I have range of motion."

Certainly, the 13-time major championship winner will have a range of things working in his favor on Monday. He is 2-0 in major championship playoffs and 10-2 in PGA Tour playoffs overall. He is considerably longer than Mediate, when he hits it in the fairway. When he doesn’t, he has an uncanny ability to recover.

He did it in spectacular ways on Saturday, filling it up for the late night TV highlights. He did it again Sunday, recovering from what seemed like a disastrous double-bogey, bogey start. Can he keep doing it for one more day?

The final hole was the ultimate illustration of the charmed life Woods has lived at Torrey Pines. He blocked out another tee shot and sent is skittering into a fairway bunker. He missed an iron and landed it in the thick grass, 101 yards from the hole. Lying three, his U.S. Open hopes and major championship aura of invincibility was hanging by a two-shot thread.

So he lifted a 60-degree wedge and landed it 12 feet right of the cup, and he made the putt for birdie. Thanks for your time, this time … and so long until tomorrow.

"I hit (the putt) good," said Woods, who made a 40-footer for eagle on the same green Saturday. "It took forever to break, but it finally snuck in there at the end."

Woods will not sneak up on anybody Monday morning. The two players are identical as far as greens in regulation (46 of 72, or 64 percent) and putts (115) this week. Mediate has been more accurate off the tee (64 percent), but Woods has averaged nearly 40 yards longer.

Mediate will have a discernible advantage on the first tee. He has played the No. 1 hole at even-par for the week, Woods has double-bogeyed it three times. "Hopefully, I’ll play it better," Woods said with a smile.

In the end, the numbers matter little. Woods will come to the playoff as the prohibitive favorite. "I get to play against the best player who ever played," said Mediate, who will become the oldest U.S. Open winner in history if he prevails. He is nearly six months older than Hale Irwin was when Irwin won in 1990.

But will the best player come with his best stuff? Will his tender knee take one more 18-hole pounding without impacting the outcome? "It’s going to have to," Woods said.

One thing is certain, the game’s No. 1 star relishes the opportunity to find out.

"We’re going to have fun," Woods said. “Rock’s a great guy. He’s one of the greatest guys and a super nice guy out there on tour. There’s not one person that can say they don’t like Rock.

“It’s going to be a great match. We’re just going to go at it.”

As for whether Woods has one more round in him — that will be on a knee-to-know basis.