En April 13, 1997, when spring was spring and the azaleas at Augusta National had to be wrapped in ice to break open with the week of the Masters, Tiger Woods won his first green jacket. It was not only the victory of a black player in one of the corners of the sport where racism was most manifested. It was also a radical change in this sport: players were forced to go to the gym, the industry raised the prizes by 150 percent, the courses stretched the holes to their borders… It was the greatest transformation that has been seen in a specialty in recent times.
On the last day, the sensation golfer, 21 years old, arrived with a nine-shot advantage over Constantino Rocca, the Italian who stood on the tee of hole 1 thinking that he would even have a chance. “To tell you the truth, I thought if I could take three shots away from him in the first nine holes, I might have a chance. There wasn’t. He missed a lot early on on his tee shots and was throwing them back and forth. But from the woods, as if he were Seve, he made fantastic recovery shots. I tried to encourage myself on the course, but from the 11th hole I saw that there was nothing to do“.
We barely spoke: I told you ‘good shot’ and that’s it. I was in a trance
Rocca, a Bergamasco with a good short game, who lost the 1995 British Open in a playoff to John Daly, after making one of the most fabulous putts in St. Andrews history, threw 75 strokes in the final day. He finished fifth after two bogeys in the last two holes.
“He was already a guy with a privileged head. Enormously strong. for Francesco Molinari to win the British Open in 2018 premiering Italy. “He already knew him because of everything that had been said about him and because we had played a round of the USOpen. On a 220-yard par 3, with a headwind, I hit the 1-iron and he must have hit the 6-iron and it blew the green. I thought: the day I adjust the distances we have nothing to do“.
Memories? That each passing day their distance was greater
From that hole 11, the public went crazy: “It seemed that he was the only one on the field. He had to stop people several times to calm down so I could play too. it was his party. I was trying to stay focused on my game, but it was really hard.”
Rocca emphasizes above all how the impact of the stick with the Tiger Woods ball sounds. “It is because of the speed it prints, but it is a special noise that no one had heard before. Good. To Olazbal, but only in practices [risas]”. Constantino, who has returned to play golf after being out for three years due to back problems, insists on Tiger’s best quality: “It’s his character. He can already go three over par and sink to fight to finish +1 or even. In that he is a unique athlete.”
Triumph in the 1997 Ryder
Months later, Rocca took her revenge. I won 4 and 2 in the Valderrama Ryder. “Everyone wanted to play against him except me. It was my turn and between Seve and Olazbal they drew up the plan. They told me: ‘You have the advantage that you are always going to hit first and you are going to condition his game. And he came out”.
