Rocco Mediate waits to putt on the 16th green during the first round of the U.S. Open at Bethpage State Park's Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y., Friday.

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — See, he told you so.

Earlier this week, Rocco Mediate wanted to make sure you understood that he wasn't a flash in Tiger Woods' pan, that last year's thrilling playoff loss to Woods in the Open at Torrey Pines wasn't some five-minutes-of-fame thing.

Western Pennsylvania native cobbled together a 68 in the opening round Friday with five birdies and three bogeys, a pretty typically good U.S. Open round. He did stumble a bit with a double bogey and two bogeys through 10 holes of the second round Friday evening.

"Don't look so surprised," he said in a brief appearance before starting his second round. "I love this type of golf. I've been saying I've been hitting my ball just fine for about eight months. I haven't made a score at all and I just hoped I could keep hitting good, and so far, so good today. A 68 does a lot of good at (an Open). Doesn't do a lot of good at some of our events on Tour."

The sun came out for his round Friday the same way it smiled at him at Torrey Pines last year. He is always asked — always, always — if he still gets a charge out of facing up to Woods and taking him to 19 holes before losing in the playoff.

"Every day I play," he said. "It was the coolest thing ever. It was the most intense thing ever. So coming in, I really wanted to finish it off good today and I did. I knew I could because I did it before. I love this golf course. It's fantastic."

There was a lot of love given back. Just as in 2002 at Bethpage, New Yorkers just love to call out his name. How many times would that have been Friday?

"About 4 million," he said. "Unbelievable out there today. It was great. It was absolutely fantastic."