Rocco Coming?

Greetings from TPC River Highlands, where I've drawn the (n)ever-popular Monday duty at the Travelers Championship. Not a whole lot going on here right now. Most media types in the press room are watching Tiger vs. Rocco in the U.S. Open playoff.

Speaking of Rocco (Mediate, of course), the $64,000 question remains whether the current talk of the golf world will still be coming to the Travelers. Mediate committed on Friday morning, following his opening-round 69 at Torrey Pines. While Travelers officials have no idea if today's playoff with Tiger Woods will change Mediate's plans to come, they're certainly crossing their fingers.

"I don't think he would have committed on Friday if he wasn't planning on coming," said tourney director Nathan Grube. "If he had shot a horrible round on Thursday, thinking he was going to miss the cut, and committed on Friday, that would be one thing. But he's up near the leaderboard, thinking 'I'll probably be here for the weekend', and then he committed. So, all the facts point to the fact that we're probably going to see him. But we'll see."

The Travelers sent a charter flight out to San Diego to transport players from the Open to Hartford this morning. About 50 Tour players and 100 people total were on the flight (which should land at Bradley around 4 p.m.). Mediate had already planned his own travel arrangements. The Travelers still has people out at Torrey Pines waiting for the right time to gently persuade Mediate to still come to Cromwell.

"They're trying very subtly to say, 'Hey, obviously we still want you. Is there anything we can do to make the trip easier?'" Grube reported. "We're around him, letting him know we're there to help him."

Tourney officials may not know if Rocco is coming until tomorrow night.

"It's such a great Open for him, everybody was so excited and behind him," Grube added. "If he doesn't come, it doesn't change the fact that what he's doing is amazing. But obviously, we'd love to have him."

--- DAVID BORGES
dborges@nhregister.com