After a pulsating day in which story angles changed every five minutes, the 108th U.S. Open Championship is exasperatingly unfinished. Tiger Woods hit a clutch 15-foot putt on the 18th hole to lift himself into a tie with Rocco Mediate, and the two will play an 18-hole playoff today to decide the tournament’s winner.

As if yesterday’s events weren’t TV-friendly enough, the players filling in today’s final chapter come from the two extremes of the field: One is the world’s no. 1, the man expected to win despite the obvious pain he felt in his left knee throughout the championship; the other is a 45-year-old qualifier having a season that, until his tie for sixth at the Memorial Tournament two weeks ago, could only be described as woeful.

Woods began yesterday the obvious favorite, as he was entering the final round of one of the four major tournaments with either the lead or a share of it for the 14th time, and he’d won the previous 13 occasions. On Saturday afternoon, he clearly had been in considerable discomfort, when more than once it looked like his knee would finally give out on him and he’d have to be carted back to the clubhouse. But with eagles on both the 13th and 18th holes, and with a rather fortuitous chip-in birdie on the 17th, the amount of adrenaline pumping through his body could have risen the dead.

An ice pack and a few painkillers yesterday morning, and he should have been raring to go in search of the major title victory that would put him just four behind Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18. But then, as he did on Thursday and again Saturday, he hacked it up the left side of the first hole, chopping and clubbing his way through the trees and out of the rough on his way to an ugly double-bogey six, his third of the week.

Then came one or two surprising club choices on the homeward nine. After a fine drive at the 13th that left him 291 yards to the hole with a downhill lie, the obvious play was a safe layup to the bottom of the hill and a relatively straightforward pitch to the flag. But he followed playing partner Lee Westwood into the ice-plant on the left, hitting a wild hook with a 3-wood — a very difficult shot to hit, and, on this occasion, absolutely not what he wanted.

Then, after going for it on the 13th, he decided to lay up off the tee at the short Par 4 14th even though, at 267 yards, he could have got there with his 5-wood. At the 15th, having driven well right off the tee, he attempted to blast it over the tree in front of him and land it softly on the green, but he left the blade well open and it faded weakly into the rough short and right of the green. At the 18th, he hit a poor lay-up out of the fairway bunker on the right that failed to find the fairway. How often do Tiger lay-ups miss the fairway? Heck, how often does Tiger lay up?

No one — well no one who’s seen some of the shot’s he’s hit in the past — would ever dispute Tiger’s choice of club or question the shot he’s about to take. Given 10 balls, he might hit the green at the 13th from 291 yards five or six times. At a 267-yard Par 4, you’d expect him to birdie the hole eight times and eagle it twice. At the 15th, a lower, squeezy cut shot bending around the tree, hitting hard in front of the green and chasing up to the back-right hole location seemed the more prudent shot. Yes, some of yesterday’s plays appeared decidedly unTiger-like.

The putt at the 18th was very much like Tiger, of course. The TV replay showed the ball hobbling across the turf and just catching the right side of the hole. It really shouldn’t have gone in, or rather the chances of it missing were considerably better. They say the ball doesn’t know who hits it, but Woods’s Nikes bow to his commands at all the right moments.

So today, after more ice packs and painkillers, Woods will begin as hot favorite again. He will then double-bogey the 1st hole and the game will be on. Rocco will chat to everyone he sees and try to control the 20-yard hook that you’d think would put him in too much trouble to contend at a U.S. Open, but which he has stifled just enough to get him this far.

If he wins he’ll become the oldest U.S. Open champion in history, and the first man to deny Woods a major when leading after 54 holes. If Woods wins, no one will be in the least surprised, least of all, one suspects, Rocco Mediate.

tonydear71@comcast.net