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Costantino Rocca (born in Bergamo on 4 December
1956) is the most successful male golfer that
Italy has produced. He started out as a caddy,
winning the Italian Caddie Championship in 1978,
and turned professional in 1981 at the age of 24. 

==Career outline==
In the 1980s Rocca struggled to retain a European
Tour card and made several trips to the Qualifying
School. He began to make major strides in his
career in 1990, which was the first season that he
finished high enough on the Order of Merit to gain
a tour card automatically. By 1993 he has risen to
sixth in the Order of Merit, and his two best
seasons were 1995 and 1996, when he finished
fourth. He won five titles on the tour, the first
of which was the 1993 Open de Lyon and the most
prestigious of which was the 1996 Volvo PGA
Championship. In 1995 he sank a 60 foot (18 metre)
putt on the 18th at Old Course at St Andrews|St
Andrews to make the birdie he needed force a
play-off with the American John Daly, but Daly
took the title. In 1997 he played the final round
of The Masters Tournament with 21-year-old Tiger
Woods, nine strokes behind him. He finished
3-under-par, and watched Woods' legendary moment.
Since the turn of the Millenium age has begun to
catch up with Rocca and he has fallen out of the
top hundred on the Order of Merit. He will be
eligible to play senior golf in 2007.

Rocca was the first Italian to play for Europe in
the Ryder Cup, and remains the only Italian to do
so. He appeared in 1993, 1995 and 1997, and had a
6-5-0 win-loss-half record, including 1 win and 2
losses in singles matches. That one singles win
came in a crucial match against Tiger Woods in the
1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama Golf Club|Valderrama,
which Rocca won 4 & 2 to help Europe claim the
cup.

==European Tour wins==
*1993 Open de Lyon, Peugeot Open de France
*1996 Volvo PGA Championship
*1997 Canon European Masters
*1999 West of Ireland Golf Classic 

==Other professional wins==
*1984 National Omnium
*1985 Enichem Open, National Omnium
*1986 Pinetina Open, National Omnium
*1987 Index Open, National Omnium
*1988 Rolex Pro-Am (Switzerland), National Omnium
*1989 National Omnium

All in Italy except where noted.

==Team appearances==
*Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 1993, 1995
(winners), 1997 (winners)
*Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing Italy): 1986,
1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1999
*World Cup of Golf|World Cup (representing Italy):
1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996,
1998, 1999
*Hennessy Cognac Cup: 1984
*Europcar Cup: 1988

==External links==
*http://www.europeantour.com/players/bio.sps?iPlay
erNo=164 Profile on the European Tour's official
site