Robert Rock

Robert Rock (born 6 April 1977) is an English professional golfer. He has played on the European Tour since 2003. 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 for the 2009 Irish Open but still collected the first prize of €500,000.

For other uses, see Robert Rock (disambiguation).
Robert Rock
Personal information
Full nameRobert Rock
Born (1977-04-06) 6 April 1977
Armitage, Staffordshire, England
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight168 lb (76 kg; 12.0 st)
Nationality England
ResidenceLichfield, Staffordshire
SpouseLynda (m.2007, divorced)
ChildrenDavid (b. 2008)
Career
Turned professional1998
Current tour(s)European Tour
Professional wins3
Highest ranking55 (29 January 2012)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour2
Other1
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipCUT: 2012
U.S. OpenT23: 2011
The Open ChampionshipT7: 2010

Early life

He was born in Armitage, near Lichfield in Staffordshire, 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,[2] 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.[3] 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 in June 2011. He won by one stroke over Gary Boyd and Thorbjørn Olesen despite a final round 62 from Olesen.[4] 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.[5] Despite this, he managed an under-par opening round of 70 and finished tied for 23rd place at 3 under par.

Rock won his second European Tour title at the 2012 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, finishing one shot ahead of Rory McIlroy.[6] He entered the final round at 11 under par, tied for the lead with Tiger Woods, 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 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.[7] However, ValueLicensing became the first company 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.[8] Rock shot a final round 70 and finished the event tied for 4th.

Professional wins (3)

European Tour wins (2)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 12 Jun 2011 BMW Italian Open −21 (64-68-68-67=267) 1 stroke Gary Boyd, Thorbjørn Olesen
2 29 Jan 2012 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship −13 (69-70-66-70=275) 1 stroke Rory McIlroy

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 2009 3 Irish Open Shane Lowry (a) Lost to par on third extra hole

Other wins (1)
  • 2001 Farmfoods British Par 3 Championship

Playoff record

Challenge Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
1 2003 Ryder Cup Wales Challenge Robert Coles, Sam Walker,
Craig Williams		 Williams won with birdie on first extra hole

Results in major championships
Tournament 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open
The Open Championship T67 T16 CUT
PGA Championship
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open T23 CUT
The Open Championship T7 T38 CUT CUT
PGA Championship CUT
Tournament 2019
Masters Tournament
PGA Championship
U.S. Open
The Open Championship CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary
TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Masters Tournament00000000
PGA Championship00000010
U.S. Open00000121
The Open Championship00001284
Totals000013115
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 3 (2010 Open Championship – 2011 Open Championship)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in World Golf Championships
Tournament20112012
Match Play R32
Championship T24
Invitational T71
Champions T33 T72
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied

Team appearances

Professional

See also

References
  1. "Week 4 2012 Ending 29 Jan 2012" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  2. European Tour: Robert Rock Results 2009
  3. European Tour: The 3 Irish Open 2009
  4. "Rock wins maiden title at BMW Italian Open". Sky Sports. 12 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-12.
  5. US Open - Rock Has Memorable Journey To Congressional Archived 2011-06-21 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Abu Dhabi Golf Championship - Leaderboard
  7. New York Times - Golfer Robert Rock Has a Head for the Game, but No Hat
  8. Romine, Brentley (6 July 2019). "Rock misses eagle try at last but settles for 60, Irish Open lead". Golf Channel. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
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