Mediate making himself heard ... in a variety of ways

	Rocco Mediate's back is healthy ... for now. Steve Grayson/WireImage.com

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. -- You can run "fenjoozler" through spell check on your computer but trust me, it won't do any good. Rocco Mediate made up the word to describe a botched pitch shot. It's colorful and descriptive and I'm not sure I spelled it right but since it's not a real word, it doesn't really matter.

"Fenjoozler" was one of Mediate's contributions to golf earlier this year when he spent three weeks as an on-course reporter for the Golf Channel. Another was bringing the word, "crap," to televised golf. Please, people, hold your applause.

It happened at the Sony Open in Hawaii. "When Paul Goydos was in the rough at the 17th hole," Mediate said, "I told Nick Faldo, 'It's really hard to judge the ball out of this crap.' He said, 'You mean the rough is a little more difficult? Isn't that bermuda grass?' I said, 'No, it's crap.' Well, the Golf Channel wanted me to be myself and that's how I talk. I did use crap twice in three weeks. The other time, I said, 'The wind knocked the crap out of that one, guys.' I didn't swear on the air, so that was good."

Mediate, who grew up in Greensburg, Pa., scored some good reviews for his candid stint as a television reporter but that's all it was, a stint. He still wants to play Tour golf and guess what? He still can. He put up a 66 in the Nissan Open's second round at Riviera, added a 68 in the final round and tied for ninth, his first top-10 finish since he tied for sixth at the 2005 U.S. Open. "I'm so excited, I can't even tell you," he said Sunday. "Nothing hurts right now, I couldn't be happier."

You've got to remember The Rock. He was actually tied for the lead in the 2006 Masters on the ninth tee on Sunday. Then his approach shot clanged off the flagstick, a terrible break. Then his patchwork back locked up. He almost didn't make it up the hill from the ninth green to the 10th tee, that's how bad it was. He made a 10 at the par-3 12th hole, that's how bad it was, and fell back to a tie for 36th. His back was so painful, it took him three tries to hit a sand wedge over Rae's Creek. "I didn't think I was ever going to leave the drop area," Mediate remembered.