What A Rush...Rocco's Universal Dream

By Michael Abramowitz, CNN.com iReport, May 21, 2013

In 1992, Rocco Mediate was preparing to play in the 74th PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club, when he learned that his favorite band, RUSH, would be in town at the same time. So, Mediate sent an invitation to the members of RUSH to join him for a round of golf at Bellerive. Guitarist Alex Lifeson accepted the offer, and the two played a round of golf close to the time of the PGA Championship. It was one of the first rounds of golf that Lifeson?who was inducted along with fellow band mates Geddy Lee and Neil Peart into the Rock ?n Roll Hall of Fame in April?ever played.

The golf bug struck a sweet chord with Lifeson. Since then, Mediate and Lifeson went on to appear together in one of the first episodes of ?Playing Lessons from the Pros? on Golf Channel. While on tour with RUSH, Lifeson is known to play golf regularly and reportedly has a handicap in the single digits. In 2006, Lifeson became a co-owner of the Tom Fazio-designed Coppinwood Golf Course near Toronto. When Mediate played the Canadian Open in 2010, he sported a RUSH hat during a round and was also seen wearing Coppinwood apparel.

Mediate made his debut in the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid in May at Bellerive and had a Top-20 finish, behind Champion Kohki Idoki.

Despite his low handicap, Lifeson characteristically uses self-deprecating humor to describe his golf game, even to this day. "I remember how thoughtful and considerate Rocco was," said Lifeson. "He spent a great deal of time with me, a truly novice golfer, on the range hitting a million 7 irons. The thing is, he still spends time with me on the range, so either he's a dear friend or I'm a pretty lousy golfer...or maybe both! This photo is of that day."