Most players like to talk during their rounds. The amount of chatter is determined by certain factors:

Rocco Mediate is known as a heavy talker on the course, and he had Tiger Woods cracking up at the start of their U.S. Open playoff round. (Michael Holahan/Staff)

- The personality of the player. Rocco Mediate says, "I don't stop; I never do." Nick Faldo seldom started.

- The pairing.

- The situation (not much talk if it's the final pairing on a Sunday).

But with the possible exception of the silent treatment that Faldo and Ben Hogan gave playing partners in their prime, golfers say they like to converse on the course.

"Your own thoughts will kill you out there if you're left alone for five hours," Justin Rose said. "You need to be able to switch on and off between shots. I think that's the key out here.

"Tiger (Woods) looks very intense. Interestingly enough, when you play with him, he builds that intensity as the round goes on. Even he realizes you can't be intense for four days. He starts out pretty relaxed on Thursday, and by Sunday afternoon, that's when he gets the game face on. That's an art, being able to switch on and off and keep concentrating."

Stewart Cink, who finished in a tie for third in the 2008 Masters, said "most of the guys talk a little bit in between shots.

"It's important. You've got to focus a lot out there, but in between shots, you have to almost not focus. Otherwise, you're just going to be worn out by the end of the day.

"Between shots, it's a social environment out there, so you've got to interact with the people you're playing with one way or another."

What happens when a playing partner is talking too much?

"There are signals you send, as in not saying anything back or one-word answers or walking down the other side of the fairway," Cink said.

Cink and Rose determine how much they talk based on how they're playing -- but they look at it in totally different ways.

"If you're playing good, you kind of get in a chatty mood. If you're playing poorly, you're sort of a hermit," Cink said.

Said Rose: "If I'm playing poorly, I think I like to chat with the guys just to lighten myself up. When I'm playing well, I feel like I get pretty focused and do my own thing out there."

Nick Watney says he's not in the "Lee Trevino class" of talkers, but he enjoys talking during a round. If not to his playing partner, then his caddie.

"It's important to get away from it. I think it would be impossible to focus for five straight hours," Watney said. "For me, anyway. I have trouble past 30 seconds."

Of the current players, Mediate appears to be the modern-day Trevino, who was nicknamed the "Merry Mexican" because of his chatter and antics on the course.

Woods made the comparison after beating Mediate in a Monday playoff that went 19 holes last June at the U.S. Open.

"Rocco ... was loose all day," Woods said. "He was out there talking and having a great time enjoying the atmosphere and then -- he reminds me a lot of Trevino how he plays.

"Just talking and enjoying it and smiling and having a great time with it. But when it comes down to it, when it's time to hit the shot, he goes into his own little world. ... After he does hit the shot, he comes out and goes, blah, blah, blah, having a good time. But right before each shot he gets into his own little zone. And it's pretty cool to see."

Said Mediate at the Honda Classic in March: "Maybe it's nervous energy. If I'm quiet, I'm terrible. I've never really tried to change that.

"I never get in anybody's business. ... I'm an easy guy to play with."

Woods agrees.

"Rock's a great guy. He's one of the greatest guys and a super nice guy out here on tour. There's not one person that can say that they don't like Rock," he said.

Mediate started talking early in the playoff with Woods, who had failed to hit the fairway on the first hole in the four rounds of regulation play.

"I had (Tiger) laughing on the first hole," Mediate said. "He hit that drive and it kind of flares toward the bunker and kicks back in the fairway and I'm like, 'Sure, now you hit the fairway.' He almost fell to his knees he was laughing so hard."

Because of the situation, Brandt Snedeker said, there wasn't much conversation between him and Trevor Immelman during most of last year's final round at the Masters. Immelman started the day as the tournament leader, and Snedeker was in second, two shots back.

"Walking off the 13th tee, Trevor had a four-shot lead," Snedeker said. "He hadn't said a whole lot all day. We both went to the bathroom, and as we're walking out of the bathroom, I looked down and smiled and said, 'You having fun yet?'

"We both kind of laughed our way down the 13th fairway. In the midst of all that pressure in that moment I wanted us to both realize what was going on and have a good time and try to stay relaxed. I felt like if he was relaxed, it would keep me relaxed and we'd have a good time coming in."

Reach David Westin at (706) 823-3224 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.

1st Round
Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	T
Par	4	5	4	3	4	3	4	5	4	36	4	4	3	5	4	5	3	4	4	36	72
Rnd	5	4	3	3	4	3	4	5	4	35	4	4	3	5	5	5	4	4	4	38	73
Tot.	1	0	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	0	0	1	1	1	1	1