Costantino Rocca

Costantino Rocca
Personal information
Full name	Costantino Rocca
Born	4 December 1956 (1956-12-04) (age 54) Bergamo, Italy
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Nationality	Italy
Residence	Bergamo, Italy
Spouse	Antonella (m. 1981)
Children	Chiara (b. 1985), Francesco (b. 1991)
Career
Turned professional	1981
Current tour(s)	European Seniors Tour
Former tour(s)	European Tour
Professional wins	14
Number of wins by tour
European Tour	5
European Seniors Tour	2
Best results in Major Championships
Masters Tournament	T5: 1997
U.S. Open	T67: 1996
The Open Championship	2nd: 1995
PGA Championship	T17: 1995

Costantino Rocca (born 4 December 1956) is the most successful male golfer that Italy has produced. After a long career on the European Tour he is now playing on the European Seniors Tour. He has five European Tour wins and is best known for his second place finish in the 1995 Open Championship.

Career outline

Rocca was born in Almenno San Bartolomeo, Bergamo. He started out as a caddy, winning the Italian Caddie Championship in 1978, and turned professional in 1981 at the age of 24.

In the 1980s, Rocca struggled to retain a European Tour card and made several trips to the Qualifying School. He began to make major strides in his career in 1990, which was the first season that he finished high enough on the Order of Merit to gain a tour card automatically. By 1993, he had risen to sixth in the Order of Merit, and his two best seasons were 1995 and 1996, when he finished fourth. He won five titles on the tour, the first of which was the 1993 Open de Lyon and the most prestigious of which was the 1996 Volvo PGA Championship.

In 1995, Rocca sank a 60 foot (18 metre) putt on the 18th at St Andrews to make the birdie he needed force a play-off with the American John Daly, but Daly took the title. As Rocca approached the final hole, he was one shot behind Daly. Rocca's long drive was only yards from the green, but his second shot resulted in a fluffed chip where he forgot to follow through. The ball trickled a mere five yards into the "Valley of Sin." From the Valley of Sin, well below the level of the green, Rocca putted and holed his birdie putt. The jovial Italian instantly fell to the ground and began pounding the ground with his fists out of joy.

Rocca's showing at the Open helped qualify him for the Ryder Cup in 1995. The Italian punched a five-iron into the cup for a hole-in-one at Oak Hill's 167-yard sixth hole. It was only the third hole-in-one in Ryder Cup history.

In 1997, Rocca played the final round of The Masters Tournament with 21-year-old Tiger Woods, nine strokes behind him. He finished 3-under-par, and watched Woods' legendary moment. Since the turn of the millennium, age has begun to catch up with Rocca and he has fallen out of the top hundred on the Order of Merit. He made his European Seniors Tour debut at the 2007 Sharp Italian Seniors Open,^[1] and won his first senior tournament two weeks later at the Irish Seniors Open. He ended 2008 with a record seven top finishes and ranked ninth in the Order of Merit. His best placing was tied third in the Azores Senior Open.^[2]

Rocca was the first Italian to play for Europe in the Ryder Cup, and remained the only Italian to do so until 2010, when Francesco Molinari qualified for the Ryder Cup held in Celtic Manor and Edoardo Molinari was a captain's pick. He appeared in 1993, 1995 and 1997, and had a 6-5-0 win-loss-half record, including 1 win and 2 losses in singles matches. That one singles win came in a crucial match against Tiger Woods in the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama, which Rocca won 4 & 2 to help Europe claim the cup. The victory against Woods was one of Woods' first losses in singles play. His 53% winning record in the Cup is one of the best in European team history. In 1999, Rocca almost qualified for the Cup again after he won the West of Ireland Golf Classic.

Personal life

Rocca is married and has two children, Francesco and Chiara.^[3]

In 2008, Rocca opened his own golf academy, the Costantino Rocca Golf Academy, at Golf Club Gerre Losone in Switzerland.

He is friends with golfing great Gary Player and plays in his Gary Player Invitational charity event to help raise money for underprivileged children around the world.

Professional wins (14)

European Tour wins (5)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runner(s)-up
1	4 Apr 1993	Open de Lyon	-21 (67-71-66-63=267)	6 strokes	Joakim Haeggman, Gabriel Hjertstedt, Barry Lane, Paul McGinley
2	27 Jun 1993	Peugeot Open de France	-11 (66-66-71-70=273)	Playoff	Paul McGinley
3	27 May 1996	Volvo PGA Championship	-14 (69-67-69-69=274)	2 strokes	Nick Faldo, Paul Lawrie
4	7 Sep 1997	Canon European Masters	-13 (71-69-70-65=275)	1 stroke	Scott Henderson, Robert Karlsson
5	15 Aug 1999	West of Ireland Golf Classic	-12 (70-68-68-70=276)	2 strokes	Pádraig Harrington

Other (7)

• 1984 National Omnium
• 1985 Enichem Open
• 1986 Pinetina Open
• 1987 Index Open
• 1988 Rolex Pro-Am (Switzerland)
• 1989 National Omnium, Italian PGA Championship

All in Italy except where noted.

European Seniors Tour (2)

• 2007 AIB Irish Seniors Open, The Kingdom of Bahrain Trophy - Seniors Tour Championship

Results in major championships

Tournament	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
The Masters	DNP	DNP	DNP	T41	DNP	CUT	T5	CUT	DNP
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	DNP	T67	DNP	CUT	DNP
The Open Championship	T44	T55	CUT	CUT	2	T63	CUT	T8	T18
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	T17	T52	T71	CUT	DNP

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Team appearances

• Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 1993, 1995 (winners), 1997 (winners)
• Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing Italy): 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1999
• World Cup (representing Italy): 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999
• Hennessy Cognac Cup: 1984
• Europcar Cup: 1988

References

1. ^ Rocca debuts in the Sharp Italian Seniors Open, europeantour.com, 14 May 2007.
2. ^ http://www.europeantour.com/default.sps?pageid=127&pagegid={AB0336D2-D3C9-469B-BCB6-BFD443B52A34}&playerId=164
3. ^ http://emagazine.credit-suisse.com/app/article/index.cfm?fuseaction=OpenArticle&aoid=195754&lang=EN

External links

• Costantino Rocca at the European Tour official site
• Costantino Rocca Golf Academy
• Constantino Rocca: La dolce vita for the man who tamed Tiger Woods

Persondata
Name	Rocca, Costantino
Alternative names
Short description	Professional golfer
Date of birth	4 December 1956
Place of birth	Bergamo, Italy
Date of death
Place of death