Robert Rock, 47, has perhaps surprised even himself by earning a spot at Pinehurst.
Robert Rock retired from playing on the DP World Tour a couple of seasons ago, but with a view to seeing “where my golf stands today,” he decided to have a crack at the recent U.S. Open Final Qualifying at Walton Heath, south of London. The 47-year-old Englishman was worried that his bad back would allow for only nine holes, but out he went and handed in scores 69 and 66 all on the one day. He ended up in a share of fourth among the nine qualifiers who will be teeing up at Pinehurst (North Carolina) Resort’s No. 2 course next week. No wonder he did not have time to be interviewed before setting off for the States.
As someone who nowadays puts his highly acclaimed teaching academy and his son’s football way ahead of his own golf, he would have been busy rearranging his multifarious commitments. All that as well as double-checking on his visa situation. The U.S. Open will be the first major start for Rock since he missed the cut in the 2019 Open Championship. He hasn’t played a DP World Tour event in nearly two years.
Back in 2011, when he had again progressed via the Walton Heath qualifier, his visa problems were such that he did not arrive at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, until early Thursday morning. Yet he pulled up in a share of 10th place that evening on his way to ending the week in a tie for 23rd and as something of a cult figure after his unlikely adventures.
In 2012, he shared the lead with Tiger Woods going into the final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Of course, everyone assumed Woods would be the man walking off with the famous falcon trophy. Instead, it was the sparsely logoed Rock who came out on top, handing in a closing 70 to finish at 13-under-par for the week, one shot better than Rory McIlroy. Woods, Thomas Bjørn and Graeme McDowell were a shot further back. Rock went ahead of Woods at the third and stayed ahead for the rest of the day, and that in spite of the drama which unfurled at the 18th.
After his drive finished on the edge of the water, Rock stood astride a rock as he considered how best to make his escape. Gary Tilston, one of the famous caddying twins (with brother Guy), was having none of it. For Tilston, this was no time for heroics. “Drop that ball there,” he demanded of his charge. Rock did as he was told and duly hit what was his third shot up the fairway. Shot No. 4 finished on the green but 45 feet short of the flag and, at that point, he simply had to get down in two.
In spite of the pressure, he knocked his putt close enough to be left with nothing more than a tap-in for his victory. Woods was impressed. “Robert played great. He was solid and he was consistent. He hit a couple of beautiful iron shots down the stretch and made a couple of key putts. He never gave up. Myself, I was right there with a chance and just didn’t get it done today.”
Rock’s other DP World Tour win was in the 2011 Italian Open, but what of his performance in the 2009 Irish Open? That is where he lost a three-hole playoff to Shane Lowry but nonetheless made off with the £500,000 winner’s cheque because the Irishman, a future Open champion, was still an amateur.
Yet perhaps the most interesting thing of the lot about Robert Rock is how, in the later stages of his DP World Tour career, he was competing and teaching at the same time. You would see golfers of the caliber of Bjørn, Matt Wallace and Alejandro Cañizares working with him on the practice ground whenever he wasn’t busy playing himself. Nor was it just on golf that everyone wanted his opinion. When, for instance, Sergio García took a few divots out of the greens at the 2019 Saudi International, Rock could not have given a fairer assessment of the situation. On the one hand, he was irritated to have been playing behind the Spaniard, but on the other, he knew for himself the putting surfaces could be disturbed by nothing more than the dragging of a foot. “I reported it like everyone else, mostly because I wanted to know what was going on,” Rock said. “Afterwards, I spoke to Sergio and we’re fine about it. “We all mess up at some point.”
