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Robert Rock (born 6 April 1977) is an English
professional golfer. He played on the
European Tour from 2003 to 2022. He has won twice on the tour, the 2011
BMW Italian Open and the 2012
Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. He lost to Irish amateur
Shane Lowry in a playoff at the 2009
3 Irish Open, but still collected the first prize of €500,000.
Early life
Rock was born in
Armitage, near
Lichfield
Lichfield () is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated south-east of the county town of Stafford, north-east of Walsall, north-west of ...
in
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...
, and grew up and was educated in nearby
Rugeley.
Professional career
Rock joined the
European Tour as an affiliate member in 2003. His breakthrough season was 2009, when he managed three second-place finishes, including at the
Irish Open, where he tied for first place but lost to Irish amateur
Shane Lowry at the third hole of a sudden-death playoff, but collected the first prize of €500,000. He finished the 2009 season ranked in the top thirty of the
Race to Dubai. He finished tied for 7th place in the
2010 Open Championship, despite a second round 78 played in very windy conditions.
Rock won his maiden European Tour title at the
BMW Italian Open in
Turin
Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
in June 2011. He won by one stroke over
Gary Boyd and
Thorbjørn Olesen despite a final round 62 from Olesen. He made his
U.S. Open debut the following week, having qualified via a European sectional qualifying event. Because of difficulties in obtaining a
visa, he only arrived in the United States at 3:30am on the Thursday morning, less than 12 hours before the start of his round.
, but outshone the American on Sunday to shoot a 2 under round of 70 to claim victory. After the win he rose to a career-high 55 in the world rankings.
Since his 2012 win, his best finish has been a runner-up finish behind
Paul Casey
Paul Alexander Casey (born 21 July 1977) is an English golfer who is a member of LIV Golf. He has also played on the US-based PGA Tour and the European Tour. In 2009, he achieved his highest position, third, in the Official World Golf Rankin ...
in the 2013
Irish Open.
He was well known as one of the few professional golfers that did not wear a hat while he played, despite the sponsorship income it can bring. However, ValueLicensing became the first compan
to sponsor his cap in 2016 although it was a
flat cap not a traditional golfers hat that he wears.
On 6 July 2019, Rock shot a 10-under-par 60 at
Lahinch Golf Club in the third round of the
Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. This score set an Irish Open record and a
Rolex Series record. Rock had 35 feet left for eagle from the fringe at Lahinch's par-5 18th hole, but missed just left. Rock, who shot 7-under 29 on the back nine, was 13 under for the championship and led
Rafa Cabrera-Bello (63) and
Eddie Pepperell (66) by a shot entering the event's final round. Rock shot a final round 70 and finished the event tied for 4th.
In October 2022, Rock announced his retirement from professional golf.
His most recent win came at Royal Birkdale at the 2023 Merseyside Open on the European Players Tour with a winning score of −4.
Professional wins (5)
European Tour wins (2)
European Tour playoff record (0–1)
Other wins (3)
*2001 Farmfoods British Par 3 Championship
*2002
Midland Professional Championship
*2023 FarmFoods British Par 3 Championship
Playoff record
Challenge Tour playoff record (0–1)
Results in major championships
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = no tournament
Summary
*Most consecutive cuts made – 3 (2010 Open Championship – 2011 Open Championship)
*Longest streak of top-10s – 1
Results in World Golf Championships
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
Team appearances
Professional
*
Seve Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland):
2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
(winners),
2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
(winners)
See also
*
2005 European Tour Qualifying School graduates
References
External links
*
*
*
Robert Rock Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rock, Robert
English male golfers
European Tour golfers
Sportspeople from Lichfield
1977 births
Living people