Rafael Cabrera-Bello became the third consecutive Spanish winner of the $2.5 million Dubai Desert Classic when he won on Sunday with a final-round four-under par 68. The 27-year-old, who follows in the footsteps of Miguel Angel Jimenez in 2010 and Alvaro Quiros last year, tallied 18-under par 270 to win by one shot over England’s world number three Lee Westwood and Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher. The win, only his second on the European Tour for the world No119, is expected to lift him to around 60th in the rankings.
His previous win the 2009 Austrian Open, where he had closed with a round of 60. Germany’s Marcel Siem was in sole fourth place at 15-under par 273, while world number two Rory McIlroy endured another frustrating day on the greens before a birdie on the final hole lifted him to tied fifth position at 14-under par. Also finishing on 274 were South African George Coetzee, Scot Scott Jamieson and Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen.
On a tough windy day at the Majlis course of the Emirates Golf Club, Cabrera-Bello was bogey-free, and while his birdie on the 17th hole proved crucial to break the deadlock against Westwood and Gallacher, it was his incredible par save from under the trees on the 16th that turned out to be the key moment.
