He would drink the pain away.

Six-time PGA Tour winner Rocco Mediate admitted to drinking during rounds, describing it as a “daily ritual” that helped him cope with back injuries that haunted him throughout his career.

“Absolute I have [played while drinking],” Mediate told Golf Channel. “Because it was just normal for me. It was just a daily ritual, let’s say. You can put it in a lot of places. A lot of places. Was it every time? No. But most of the time when the pain came in, it wasn’t not going to happen.”

Mediate said he was a “habitual alcoholic” and would drink every day before the 56-year-old gave it up in October 2017.

“I couldn’t tell you since last October, years before that, a day I went without having a drink,” Mediate said. “I knew at the time that eventually it was going to get me.”

Mediate said he tried avoiding even the sight of alcohol since kicking the habit, which has resulted in a positive change in his golf game. He had seven top-10 finishes in 23 events on the Champions Tour in 2018.

“I actually didn’t know what I was going to feel,” Mediate said about quitting drinking. “I was hoping that I didn’t need to have it. I didn’t need alcohol. I just wanted it. I enjoyed it. Simple as that. If I woke up and I was like, ‘Oh, God,’ then we have some serious problems called rehab. Didn’t want to have to do that. Had a small headache for about four hours, and that was the end. Done.”

Mediate is best known for losing to Tiger Woods in a playoff at the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines. He said he sympathized with Woods after the 14-time major winner’s DUI arrest in May 2017.

“When that happened, I went, ‘Mm-hmm, yeah. I just didn’t get caught,'” Mediate said. “But when it comes to that type of pain, you’ll basically do whatever it takes to be able to go, ‘Oh, that feels better.'”