As the eyes of the golfing world focus upon the Open Championship at St Andrews this week, Italy’s Costantino Rocca, who added his own telling contribution to the rich tapestry of Open history at the Old Course in 1995, will join up with the European Challenge Tour for the Texbond Open in his home country at the magnificent Garda Golf.
Few golf fans who had the pleasure to witness Rocca playing the 72nd hole of the Open at the Old Course ten years ago will ever forget the drama that the now 43 year old from Bergamo produced on that final day.
The Italian needed to get up and down from the edge of the 18th green to secure a play-off with American John Daly at golf’s most prestigious championship, but looked to have blown his chance when his chip rolled back into the famous ‘Valley of Sin’ and left him with what looked like an impossible 60 foot putt to keep the Championship alive.
Everyone who was watching, be it at the course or the millions of people tuning into live television pictures, must have thought Rocca’s chance of Open glory had vanished.
But the one man who mattered at that moment did not give up hope. Rocca steadied himself and, amidst the nerves and emotions of the moment, somehow managed to read the perfect line on his putt and dispatched a monster putt straight into the middle of the cup to take the tournament to extra holes.
It was a truly unforgettable sporting moment, capped by Rocca’s wonderful celebration as he threw himself to the ground and beat the turf of golf’s most hallowed ground.
Even the fact that Rocca lost the play-off to Daly cannot take away from that unforgettable moment that millions of people will recall as they remember Open Championships of years gone by at the Old Course this week.
Rocca, meanwhile, will return to his roots to lead the Italian challenge at Garda Golf, a gem of a golf course that plays host to the second Texbond Open, and he is sure to have a massive support being one of Italy’s greatest ever players.
He is, to date, the only Italian to date to have played in The Ryder Cup, having graduated to The European Tour through the Challenge Tour in 1989. Besides from his magic moment in St Andrews ten years ago, Rocca will also be remembered for his 1996 PGA Championship victory at Wentworth Club as well as his 4 and 2 victory over Tiger Woods in The 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama to help Europe to victory.
