The Open: How Rocca’s putt through the Valley of Sin denied Bottomley

Steven Bottomley was the classic ‘unknown quantity’ at the 1995 Open Championship at St Andrews.

He may have been a European Tour professional, but the spotlight of a major tournament leaderboard was virgin territory.

His claim to fame up to that point was a Challenge Tour win three years earlier in Sweden and the occasional game alongside Colin Montgomerie in the Yorkshire amateur team of the 1980s.

But otherwise, Bottomley was the classic journeyman.

He was not even in the Open field for the 124th playing of the famous championship until the Monday before the first tee shots were played on the Thursday.

Bottomley had to negotiate two rounds of qualifying to get into the field, and it was something he discovered during that gruelling examination that prompted a week he will never forget.

“It was in between the two rounds of qualifying when along with my caddie we changed something in my swing and it just progressed from there,” said Bottomley, who was 30 at the time.

“That swing change got me into the Open and then after rounds of 70 and 72 my putter started to get hot.”

Another solid 72 followed on the Saturday, leaving Bottomley some seven shots off the lead and in no-one’s mind as a potential winner.

But on the Sunday, in gusting winds, the hard-working Tour pro carded the only score in the 60s that day, which saw him shoot up the leaderboard. By the time he holed his 69th shot on the 18th green, Bottomley had taken over the lead of the Open.

“All of a sudden I was leader in the clubhouse,” he recalls.

“I putted as well as I have ever done those final two days; as well as Jordan Spieth is now.

“It was something completely new for me.

“I went straight and did all the media and press interviews and by the time I got out, John Daly and Constantino Rocca were playing the 17th.

“I saw Daly go to six under, one ahead of me, and obviously I was gutted, and then Rocca came along and duffed his chip into the Valley of Sin.

“I at least had the consolation of being tied second. Then Rocca, who was a good friend of mine, sunk that monster putt and he knocked me into third.

“Still, it was a great week. It is the one week where you want to be at the top of your game as well; not at the French Open, not at the Spanish Open, but at the Open.”

Bottomley pocketed £65,667 for finishing in a tie for third with Mark Brooks and Michael Campbell, two future major winners.

The Yorkshireman never got close again.

His professional career had peaked and within five years he had dropped off the European Tour.

At the start of the millennium, Bottomley turned his attention to working in corporate golf and was at St Andrews on Saturday – “the wind almost knocked me off my feet”.

He has even set up his own company, Inside the Masters, to take corporate parties to Augusta every year.

And he remains a keen observer of the modern day game.

“Jordan Spieth is the man to beat for me today,” says Bottomley ahead of the delayed final round. “I’ve never seen anyone putt like he can. “And how fantastic is it to see a young amateur at the top of the leaderboard (Paul Dunne).

And what of Danny Willett, the latest Yorkshireman to try and end this county’s 144-tournament wait for an Open champion.

“I think he can do it, and why not,” he says. “I heard a stat the other day that of the last 11 links tournaments on the European Tour he’s finished in the top 10 eight times.

“He’s clearly not fazed by the occasion. He’s got the swing. He’s got the armoury. He’s proving he belongs up there.”

So what advice would he pass onto Willett; one Yorkshireman who chased the Claret Jug to another who has it within reach.

“You just carry on doing what you have been doing,” says Bottomley.

“Concentrate on each shot and remember your processes. Don’t think about the money you could win or the title, think about when you were 12 or 13 playing a friend for bragging rights at your local club.”