AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Rocco Mediate tees off on the seventh hole during a playoff round for the US Open championship at Torrey Pines Golf Course on Monday, June 16, 2008 in San Diego.

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Tiger Woods, left, is congratulated by Rocco Mediate following his US Open championship victory after a sudden death hole following an 18-hole playoff round for the at Torrey Pines Golf Course on Monday, June 16, 2008 in San Diego.

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Three months ago, Naples resident Rocco Mediate played in a pro-am at Calusa Pines Golf Club. Bigger names from golf were there — the King, Arnold Palmer, and U.S. Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger, for example.

Amateurs paid big money to play with the big names in the fund raiser for the Cancer Alliance of Naples.

Little did they know that three months later, Mediate would be enjoying a week plus of being king of the entire golf world. Not for winning a tournament, but for taking Tiger Woods to the wire in a playoff for the U.S. Open championship at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego on June 16.

“People may forget that, but I did lose the U.S. Open,’’ said Mediate, who lost on the first hole of sudden death after Woods tied the 18-hole playoff with a birdie on the final hole. “I did not win.’’

Still, the 45-year-old Mediate, who’s lived in Naples over three years and is a member at Calusa Pines, gave the people what he thinks they wanted.

“They wanted to see somebody challenge him,’’ said Mediate of Woods, who ended up winning his 14th major championship, four short of the record held by Jack Nicklaus. “Even though I didn’t beat him, they still loved the challenge. I know I loved the challenge, and I know Tiger loved the challenge. I just think that’s what everybody wanted to see, especially a 45-year-old. I mean, seriously.’’

And the people seriously loved it, especially in Southwest Florida. The Fort Myers-Naples market tied for fifth in the country in ratings for Sunday’s round, and was second in the country behind West Palm Beach for Monday’s playoff.

Mediate knew he would have detractors once regulation play ended that Sunday with a Woods birdie that forced the 18-hole playoff the following day. Many in the media wrote him off and predicted the playoff wouldn’t even be close. And when Mediate fell three strokes behind Woods after 10 holes, they appeared to be right.

Mediate rallied with three birdies and had a one-stroke lead going to No. 18, but Woods birdied the hole to force sudden death, then won the first sudden-death hole when Mediate bogeyed after a wayward drive.

“It wasn’t going to be a match,’’ Mediate recalled some wrote or said. “It was going to be a waste of time. I never thought that. Not for one second was I afraid I was going to lose. Even when I was down, I thought I was going to get back.’’

Mediate was treated like a champion last week, making appearances on ESPN, ESPN Radio, CNN, and most notably for him, on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.’’

“Got to do the Jay Leno show that Tuesday, which was really wild,’’ said Mediate, who did a back-and-forth with Leno comparing him to the big screen boxer Rocky Balboa. “Lovely, lovely guy he is. I had a blast.’’

Mediate did more media appearances, then went to his home state of Pennsylvania on Friday for a reunion. He played with tour golfer Brandt Snedeker on Monday and Tuesday in the CVS Caremark Charity Classic, a two-person team unofficial event in Rhode Island, and ended up losing in a playoff after a rain delay left four teams tied for first. He and Snedeker were third.

“It was the first time I was out in public with other fans,’’ said Mediate, who spoke to reporters from Michigan where he is taking part in the Buick Open, which starts Thursday. “They were just amazing. They were screaming and hollering, and I signed a million autographs. It was a lot of fun. I came in (to Michigan on Tuesday) night and did the pro-am this morning. It was the same on the pro-am day. A bunch of people followed. It was unbelievable. I can’t believe what I’m seeing.’’

Mediate’s goal of making the Ryder Cup team is now a distinct possibility, depending on how he plays the next couple of months.

Don’t believe any speculation that Mediate is planning on leaving Naples, by the way.

His house in Tuscany Reserve is for sale — for a reported $4.1 million. That development recently was sold by developer WCI Communities, Inc., which also has an endorsement contract with Mediate, who was among the community’s first residents.

And he has been doing some work with California-based instructor Eddie Merrins and applied for membership at Bel-Air Country Club there.

But Mediate doesn’t plan to move out of the area.

“Not for a while, that’s if we do at all,’’ said Mediate, who has three sons who go to Community School of Naples. “But, going to do something different with the house. We’re not very sure yet.’’

Mediate, a Calusa Pines Golf Club member, said Merrins was someone he “talked to’’ but still referred to both Jimmy Ballard and Rick Smith, who has a teaching academy at Tiburon in North Naples, as instructors he works with.

And Calusa Pines gives him somewhere to work at that he enjoys. The North Naples course is one of only five to be in the Golf Magazine and Golf Digest Top 100 U.S. courses, as well as Golfweek‘s Top 25 Modern U.S. courses.

“Our greens and pitching areas around our greens are as good or better than most Tour (courses),’’ said Mediate, who also met new caddie Matt Achatz at the course.

“It makes a big difference to practice on a course with that much class and shot quality,’’ he added. “Then you go to a Tour event and it’s just the same, at worst. ... It gets you ready for everything.’’

Ready enough to almost win the U.S. Open.