I missed it.

After laying around the house for virtually the entire day Sunday in a sort of Father's Day haze, I missed Tiger Wood's improbable birdie on the final hole of the U.S. Open to force an 18-hole playoff today with 45-year-old Rocco Mediate.

Mediate is one of the few professional athletes that would have actually graduated ahead of me in high school, and for that, I give him my grudging fandom.

I'm generally a big Tiger fan, but I think I quit watching in simple hopes that Mediate - a self-effacing lifer who has struggled to simply stay afloat in the professional ranks and wore an enormous peace symbol on his belt buckle during Sunday's fourth round - would somehow hold off the irrepressible Woods.

Mediate will be the oldest golfer ever to win a major if he somehow finds a way to defeat Tiger today. I'm not holding my breath, but it would be quite the accomplishment.

Here's five other athletes who did OK for themselves in the latter days of their careers.

5. Gordie Howe

If Gordie Howe would have retired at the same age as his contemporaries, he still would have been considered a hockey marvel. The NHL's best through the 1950s and a good part of the 1960s, he was perhaps the best all-around player to ever have put on skates in the NHL.

However, Howe's longevity in a sport that does anything but encourage longevity is legendary. To put it in context, Howe not only played long enough to appear on the same line as his sons during a stint with the World Hockey Association's Houston Aeroes in the late 1970s, he was still good enough to win the league's Most Valuable Player award.

He played his first game in 1946. He played his last in 1980. Now, that's an impressive run.

4. Nolan Ryan

Ryan's list of accomplishments are long, so sometimes his longevity as a fastball pitcher are overshadowed a bit. But I will always remember him for two spectacular moments in his latter years, both after he turned 40.

The first came in 1991 when, at the age of 44, he threw his seventh no-hitter. Although it is more no hitters than anyone in Major League Baseball history, I remember the feat more for it's timing. You see, earlier in the day, the brash and speedy Ricky Henderson had broken the all-time stolen base record.

I was certainly no fan of Henderson, who, when he broke the records, lifted the base above his head and proclaimed, "Today, I am the greatest player in baseball."

So, when Ryan tossed his record seventh no hitter later that day and relegated Henderson's achievement to a side note during evening sports broadcasts, I couldn't have been happier.

The second great post-40 moment came in Ryan's last season in the league. At a geriatric 46, Ryan had an up and down season, battling back issues and eventually landing on the Disabled List. But in a game against the White Sox, his tough old geezer image was fully cemented in one single play.

After simply grazing Chicago's Robin Ventura with a pitch, the much younger Ventura charged the mound, an act many would have thought was a bit suspect. As the White Sox third baseman charged the mound, most expected Ryan to simply sidestep the angry Ventura and let the bench clearing festivities ensue with a lot of angry hugs and sharp words.

Instead, Ryan caught Ventura off guard by standing his ground, grabbing the young punk's head in a headlock and unleashing a series of punches to the top of his head before both benches were able to separate them and save the young Ventura from further embarrassment.

3. Oscar Swahn

By no means a household name, Swahn's accomplishments have been largely lost in the haze of time.

However, in an Olympic year - especially this one - his athletic career should be commemorated. That's because at the 1908 games in London, Swahn began his storied Olympic career with a pair of gold medals in a pair of shooting events. At the time, he was 60 years old.

But for Swahn, it was only a beginning. Four years later, at the 1912 games in Stockholm in his native Sweden, he captured his third and last gold medal as a member of the 100 meter team running deer, single shots event.

His final Olympics came in 1920 at Antwerp, where he became the oldest athlete ever to compete at the age of 72. He collected a silver medal in the team competitions again.

2. Daniel Jensen

Jensen's story would be inspirational if all you knew about him was that as a veteran of the Vietnam War, he began running in 1990 and would become a competitive Iron Man triathlete in a few short years.

Add to the fact that he runs with a prosthetic Flex-Foot in place of where his right leg once was makes his accomplishments even more impressive.

The Sioux Falls native is the first physically challenged athlete to complete a Double IRON Triathlon, feat he accomplished in 2007 at the age of 57.

1. George Foreman

The patron saint of geezer athletes, George Foreman had two athletic careers. The first, he was the textbook definition of a bad man, a thug whose ability to punish opponents with his fists led him to the title as heavyweight boxing champion of the world.

He retired in 1977 at age 28 after a born again experience, one that would lead him into the ministry and reform his years of questionable character.

Then, in 1987, he tried the unthinkable in making a comeback at the age of 38. The 270 pound Foreman looked oddly out of place in the ring, but his girth belied his powerful punching power that had made him a world champion. The reformed Foreman soon became a crowd favorite. Once sullen, Foreman became an affable challenger in the heavyweight ranks, charming fans with a sense of humor and a persistent smile that served him well.

Twice fanning on title shots - one against Evander Hollyfield and a second time against Tommy Morrison, Foreman eventually was able to regain the title against Michael Moorer in Las Vegas. Foreman, at age 45, became the oldest fighter ever to win the world heavyweight crown, 20 years after losing the title to Muhammed Ali in the Rumble in the Jungle.

He held the title for a short time and finished his career in 1996 at age 48 after being stripped of the title for not fighting mandatory defenses. Still, his public persona had been salvaged and he remains a popular figure through his highly successful business ventures, chief among them the George Foreman Grills.