A pro golfer has admitted to drinking on the course while playing in PGA events … and his name isn’t John Daly.
In an interview with the Golf Channel, Rocco Mediate revealed he used to drank daily, including during PGA Tour events, as a way to cope with the back pain that he suffered from during his career.
Mediate, a self-described “habitual alcoholic,” is sober now and hasn’t had a drink since October 2017.
“Absolutely I have [played while drinking]. Because it was just normal for me. It was just a daily ritual, let’s say,” Mediate told the Golf Channel’s Vince Cellini. “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.”
The 56-year-old has notched six victories on the PGA Tour and three more on the Champions Tour throughout his career.
Mediate is mostly remembered by golf fans for his duel with Tiger Woods at the 2008 U.S. Open. In the interview, Mediate said he sympathized with Woods, who also has back problems and was using prescription medication for pain when he was cited for DUI in May 2017.
“When that happened, I went, ‘Mm-hmm, yeah. I just didn’t get caught,’” Mediate said. “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.’”
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