Costantino Rocca (born 4 December 1956) is an Italian golfer. He was long known as the most successful male golfer that Italy has produced, until the 2018 success of Francesco Molinari, who credited Rocca as an inspiration to him following his Open victory. After a long career on the European Tour, Constantino 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, and his hole in one in 1995 Ryder Cup.
Early life In 1956, Rocca was born in Almenno San Bartolomeo, Bergamo. Rocca began his career as a caddie. In 1978, He won the Italian Caddie Championship.
Professional career In 1981, at the age of 24, he turned professional. 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 retain membership. By 1993, he had risen to sixth in the Order of Merit. 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.
Rocca is best known for his performance at the 1995 Open Championship. He holed a 60-foot (18-metre) putt on the 18th at St Andrews to make birdie and force a four-hole playoff with John Daly but Daly won the playoff by four strokes. Rocca's second-highest finish in a major was a tie for fifth in the 1997 Masters Tournament; he was in the final pairing on Sunday, having begun the final round in second place, nine shots behind 21-year-old Tiger Woods, and he finished fifteen behind Woods.
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. During the 1995 Ryder Cup, Rocca made a hole-in-one on Oak Hill's sixth hole, only the third ace in Ryder Cup history. In 1999, Rocca almost qualified for the Ryder Cup again after he won the West of Ireland Golf Classic.
The 2001 European Tour season was the last in which Rocca finished inside the top hundred on the Order of Merit, though he remained exempt through 2006 due to his 1996 Volvo PGA Championship win. He made his European Seniors Tour debut at the 2007 Sharp Italian Seniors Open, 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.
In 2008, Rocca opened his own golf academy, the Costantino Rocca Golf Academy, at Golf Club Gerre Losone in Switzerland.
Rocca played his last European Tour event in 2015 at the Italian Open, an event he played in 33 times but never won.
Personal life Rocca is married and has two children, Francesco and Chiara.
He is friends with golfing great Gary Player and has played in his Gary Player Invitational charity event to help raise money for underprivileged children around the world.
Professional wins (17) European Tour wins (5) Legend Flagship events (1) Other European Tour (4) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-up14 Apr 1993Open de Lyon−21 (67-71-66-63=267)6 strokes Joakim Haeggman, Gabriel Hjertstedt, Barry Lane, Paul McGinley227 Jun 1993Peugeot Open de France−11 (66-66-71-70=273)Playoff Paul McGinley327 May 1996Volvo PGA Championship−14 (69-67-69-69=274)2 strokes Nick Faldo, Paul Lawrie47 Sep 1997Canon European Masters−13 (71-69-70-65=275)1 stroke Scott Henderson, Robert Karlsson515 Aug 1999West of Ireland Golf Classic1−12 (70-68-68-70=276)2 strokes Pádraig Harrington 1Dual-ranking event with the Challenge Tour
European Tour playoff record (1–1) No.YearTournamentOpponentResult11993Peugeot Open de France Paul McGinleyWon with bogey on the first extra hole21995The Open Championship John DalyLost four-hole aggregate playoff;Daly: −1 (4-3-4-4=15),Rocca: +3 (5-4-7-3=19)
Challenge Tour wins (2) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner-up122 Apr 1989Open Index−13 (275)3 strokes Neal Briggs215 Aug 1999West of Ireland Golf Classic1−12 (70-68-68-70=276)2 strokes Pádraig Harrington 1Dual-ranking event with the European Tour
Other wins (6) 1984 Nazionale Open 1985 Enichem Open 1986 Pinetina Open 1988 Rolex Pro-Am (Switzerland) 1989 Nazionale Open, Italian PGA Championship
European Seniors Tour wins (2) Legend Tour Championships (1) Other European Seniors Tour (1) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-up13 Jun 2007AIB Irish Seniors Open−5 (69-71-71=211)2 strokes Juan Quirós, Kevin Spurgeon210 Nov 2007The Kingdom of Bahrain Trophy Seniors Tour Championship−10 (70-70-66=206)1 stroke Nick Job
European Seniors Tour playoff record (0–1) No.YearTournamentOpponentResult12007European Senior Masters Carl MasonLost to birdie on first extra hole
Other senior wins (3) 2008 Senior Italian PGA Championship 2010 Senior Italian PGA Championship 2011 Senior Italian PGA Championship
Playoff record PGA Tour playoff record (0–1) No.YearTournamentOpponentResult11995The Open Championship John DalyLost four-hole aggregate playoff;Daly: −1 (4-3-4-4=15),Rocca: +3 (5-4-7-3=19)
PGA of Japan Tour playoff record (0–1) No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult11996Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters Jeff Sluman, Lee WestwoodWestwood won with par on fourth extra holeSluman eliminated by birdie on first hole
Results in major championships Tournament199119921993199419951996199719981999Masters TournamentT41CUTT5CUTU.S. OpenCUTT67CUTThe Open ChampionshipT44T55CUTCUT2T64CUTT9T18PGA ChampionshipCUTT17T52T71CUT
CUT = missed the half-way cut "T" = tied
Summary Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts madeMasters Tournament 0 0 0 1 1 1 4 2U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1The Open Championship 0 1 0 1 2 3 9 6PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 3Totals 0 1 0 2 3 5 21 12 Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (1996 U.S. Open – 1997 Masters) Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (three times)
Results in The Players Championship Tournament199619971998The Players ChampionshipCUTT43CUT CUT = missed the halfway cut "T" indicates a tie for a place
Team appearances Hennessy Cognac Cup (representing Italy): 1984 Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing Italy): 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1999 Europcar Cup (representing Italy): 1988 World Cup (representing Italy): 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999 Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 1993, 1995 (winners), 1997 (winners)
References
External links
Costantino Rocca Golf Academy Constantino Rocca: La dolce vita for the man who tamed Tiger Woods Facebook page