| Robert Rock | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal information | |
| Born | (1977-04-06)6 April 1977 (age 48) Armitage,Staffordshire, England |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Weight | 168 lb (76 kg; 12.0 st) |
| Sporting nationality |  England |
| Residence | Lichfield,Staffordshire, England |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Career | |
| Turned professional | 1998 |
| Current tour | European Players Tour |
| Former tours | European Tour Challenge Tour |
| Professional wins | 5 |
| Highestranking | 55 (29 January 2012)[1] |
| Number of wins by tour | |
| European Tour | 2 |
| Other | 3 |
| Best results in major championships | |
| Masters Tournament | DNP |
| PGA Championship | CUT: 2012 |
| U.S. Open | T23: 2011 |
| The Open Championship | T7:2010 |
Robert Rock (born 6 April 1977) is an Englishprofessional golfer. He played on theEuropean Tour from 2003 to 2022. He has won twice on the tour, the 2011BMW Italian Open and the 2012Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. He lost to Irish amateurShane Lowry in a playoff at the 20093 Irish Open, but still collected the first prize of €500,000.
Rock was born inArmitage, nearLichfield inStaffordshire, and grew up and was educated in nearbyRugeley.
Rock joined theEuropean Tour as an affiliate member in 2003. His breakthrough season was 2009, when he managed three second-place finishes,[2] including at theIrish Open, where he tied for first place but lost to Irish amateurShane 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 theRace to Dubai. He finished tied for 7th place in the2010 Open Championship, despite a second round 78 played in very windy conditions.
Rock won his maiden European Tour title at theBMW Italian Open inTurin in June 2011. He won by one stroke overGary Boyd andThorbjørn Olesen despite a final round 62 from Olesen.[4] He made hisU.S. Open debut the following week, having qualified via a European sectional qualifying event. Because of difficulties in obtaining avisa, he only arrived in the United States at 3:30 am 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 2012Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, finishing one shot ahead ofRory McIlroy.[6] He entered the final round at 11 under par, tied for the lead withTiger 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 behindPaul Casey in the 2013Irish 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 companyto sponsor his cap in 2016, although it was aflat cap not a traditional golfers hat that he wears.
On 6 July 2019, Rock shot a 10-under-par 60 atLahinch Golf Club in the third round of theDubai Duty Free Irish Open. This score set an Irish Open record and aRolex 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 ledRafa Cabrera-Bello (63) andEddie 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.
In October 2022, Rock announced his retirement from professional golf.[9]
His most recent win came at Royal Birkdale at the 2023 Merseyside Open on the European Players Tour with a winning score of −4.
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 Jun2011 | BMW Italian Open | −21 (64-68-68-67=267) | 1 stroke | Gary Boyd, Thorbjørn Olesen |
| 2 | 29 Jan2012 | Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship | −13 (69-70-66-70=275) | 1 stroke |  Rory McIlroy |
European Tour playoff record (0–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2009 | 3 Irish Open |  Shane Lowry (a) | Lost to par on third extra hole |
Challenge Tour playoff record (0–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponents | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2003 | Ryder Cup Wales Challenge | Robert Coles,Sam Walker, Craig Williams | Williams won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 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 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | ||||||
| PGA Championship | ||||||
| U.S. Open | CUT | |||||
| The Open Championship | CUT | NT |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = no tournament
| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| U.S. Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| The Open Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 4 |
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 5 |
| Tournament | 2011 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|
| Match Play | R32 | |
| Championship | T24 | |
| Invitational | T71 | |
| Champions | T33 | T72 |
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
Professional