Costantino Rocca

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Costantino Rocca
Constantino Rocca.JPG
Personnel
Nation: ItalyItaly Italy
Career data
Professional since: 1981
Current tour: European Seniors Tour , European Tour
Tournament wins: 17th
Major wins : no

Costantino Rocca (born December 4, 1956 in Bergamo ) is an Italian professional golfer on the European Tour . He is the most successful player in his country.

Rocca started out as a caddy , and after winning the 1978 national caddy championship, he first became a caddy master. In 1981 he started a professional golfer career. After several unsuccessful attempts to qualify for the European Tour , he finally made it in 1990. Rocca improved steadily and in 1993 already reached 6th place in the money list . His best years were 1995 and 1996, when he finished fourth in the rankings. Rocca achieved a total of five tournament victories, including the renowned Volvo PGA Championship in 1996.

Rocca has twice been at the center of the golf world at Majors :

At the 1995 Open Championship, he sank an 18-meter putt on the last hole of the Old Course in St Andrews for birdie and came into play-off with eventual winner John Daly . Before that, he had completely botched his approach shot and the speaker commented on what had happened with the words that he had never seen a professional who could follow such a bad shot with such an exceptionally good one. The extroverted Italian sank to his knees after this dream putt, then lay completely flat on his stomach, drummed his fists wildly with enthusiasm on the lawn.
Two years later at the Masters in Augusta Rocca played in the final round in the last flight with the then 21-year-old Tiger Woods , who was 9 strokes ahead at the beginning. It was Wood's first major win, a milestone with a record 18 under par and a record 12-shot advantage that Rocca witnessed at close range. He himself finished the tournament with a respectable 3 under par and shared 5th place (immediately ahead of Bernhard Langer ) as the best European.

Costantino Rocca was also the first Italian to join the European Ryder Cup team. He played in three consecutive matches from 1993 to 1997, had a positive match record of 6: 5 and in 1997 made the decisive victory point in the singles in Valderrama against none other than Tiger Woods .

Since 2007 he has been allowed to compete in senior tournaments and on his third appearance on the European Seniors Tour , Rocca won the AIB Irish Seniors Open .

European Tour victories

European Seniors Tour victories

  • 2007 AIB Irish Seniors Open, Seniors Tour Championship

Other tournament victories

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

All in Italy except otherwise mentioned.

Participation in team competitions

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Rocca, Costantino
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian golfer
DATE OF BIRTH 4th December 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Bergamo