Robert Rock

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 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, 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 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.