The “Godfather of Italian Golf”, Costantino Rocca, has been honoured for his services to the game at the annual IAGTO Awards gala dinner, celebrating the best in the golf tourism industry around the world.
The affable veteran former European Tour pro and three-time Ryder Cup player became the 15th recipient of the IAGTO Honorary Award when he received the accolade at the glittering event, attended by 1,500 industry professionals at Villa Erba on the shores of Lake Como at the end of the International Golf Travel Market.
Previous winners have included Ernie Els, Gary Player, Arnold Palmer, Nick Faldo, Greg Norman, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olazabal, Tony Jacklin and Colin Montgomerie.
Attending the awards night with his family, Rocca was given a rousing standing ovation when he walked on stage after video clips showing some of his most iconic moments in golf were played, including his momentous 60-foot putt on the 18th green of St Andrews in the final round of the 1995 Open Championship that secured a play-off with eventual winner John Daly – cheered into the cup by the audience as though it was being played live – and his singles victory against Tiger Woods in the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama that helped secure the cup for Europe. Rocca played in three Ryder Cups, being on the winning team twice, and he remains the only European to have defeated Woods in singles play. Clips were also played of some his five European Tour victories, including the 1996 Volva PGA Championship.
Rocca was visibly emotional as he accepted the Honorary Award from Peter Walton, Chief Executive of global golf tourism industry association IAGTO (International Association of Golf Tour Operators). He told the audience that his first Ryder Cup was “not so good”, while his second and third ones were very good. “When you play against America, you always put your heart [into it],” he explained, adding that even if you lost it was still a good experience and the best team won. In the past, America had won on many occasions while in recent years Europe had enjoyed more success.
With Italy hosting IGTM for the first time at Lake Como, Rocca was asked whether the world knew what Italy had to offer yet as a golf destination and if the country was missing something.
Rocca agreed that Italy was missing out “because we have to start to work hard to make people come here to play golf.” And when asked about the future of Italian golf, he replied that more effort was needed to encourage young people to take up golf. Italy had been elite golf for many years and getting young people to play golf had been a problem for a long time.
“We have to give a chance for the kids to come to the golf course,” said Rocca. “We [have started] to make a difference in the last five or six years, but we have to work harder.” However, he noted that with the combined efforts of Italian Golf Federation and the PGA, he thought Italy could move very fast to address that.
In an interview earlier, Rocca was asked what it meant to win the Honorary Award following on from the illustrious past winners. He joked that the names on the list were “so big” that he did not know whether his name was right to be alongside them. “For me, it is unbelievable, fantastic, to be part of this nice group,” he added.
He went on to say that for Italy to host IGTM for the first time and bring people to it from all over the world was very important, but stressed that Italy still had “a lot to learn” in order to become a big golf destination for international visitors.
“We are a little bit late in golf tourism but maybe we can start to grow and catch up,” said Rocca. “This is the most important moment for Italian [golf] tourism.”
Besides the Honorary Award, the 15th annual IAGTO Awards honoured destinations, golf courses and golf resorts from all over the world, with winners coming from the US states of North and South Carolina, the Dominican Republic, Spain, Slovenia, China, Mexico, Morocco and Ireland.
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INFORMATION FOR EDITORS
Established in 1997, IAGTO is the global trade organisation of the golf tourism industry, and has over 2200 members in 98 countries including more than 550 golf tour operator members in 62 countries, which control more than 85% of golf holiday packages sold worldwide and which collectively have annual sales of over €1.5 billion. IAGTO runs annual Asia and North America Golf Tourism Conventions, along with regular Destination Conventions. IAGTO established the International Golf Travel Market, now owned and operated by Reed Travel Exhibitions, in 1997 and the International Golf Travel Writers Association in 2000. IAGTO also runs the prestigious annual IAGTO Awards and the IAGTO Excellence Awards.
PHOTOS & LOGOS: Photos and logos can be downloaded from: www.iagto.com/awards
For Further Information:
IAGTO General Manager, Carlton Carugati, at ccarugati@iagto.com
