Rafael Cabrera-Bello

Rafael Cabrera-Bello
— Golfer —
Personal information
Full name Rafael Cabrera-Bello
Nickname Rafa
Born (1984-05-25) 25 May 1984
Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight 81 kg (179 lb; 12.8 st)
Nationality  Spain
Residence Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Spain
Career
Turned professional 2005
Current tour(s) European Tour
PGA Tour
Professional wins 5
Number of wins by tour
European Tour 2
Challenge Tour 2
Other 1
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament T17: 2016
U.S. Open T32: 2016
The Open Championship T21: 2013
PGA Championship T29: 2013

Rafael "Rafa" Cabrera-Bello (born 25 May 1984) is a Spanish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, where he won two events, and the PGA Tour.

Early life and family

Cabrera-Bello was born in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. He first played golf aged six and went on to enjoy a successful amateur career, winning the Spanish National Championship at every age group level from under-7 through under-18. In 2002, as a 17-year-old amateur, he finished in a tie for fourth at the Open de Espana,[1] a European Tour event.

His sister Emma Cabrera-Bello is also a professional golfer playing on the Ladies European Tour (LET)[2] and sitting on the LET Board of Directors.[3]

Professional career

Cabrera-Bello turned professional at the age of 20 in 2005, having narrowly missed out obtaining a European Tour card at final qualifying school. His performance did ensure a place for the second-tier Challenge Tour.

In a successful first season, Cabrera-Bello recorded his maiden professional victory, at the MAN NÖ Open in Austria. He finished the season 13th on the Challenge Tour rankings, earning him a place on the following year's European Tour.

He struggled during his rookie season in 2007, failing to finish better than tied for 18th in any tournament as he finished outside the top 200 on the Order of Merit. He failed to regain his playing status at the end of season qualifying school and returned to the Challenge Tour for 2008. His second professional victory came in the 2008 Credit Suisse Challenge, and he ended the year by once again earning graduation to the main tour, finishing 14th in the rankings.

Cabrera-Bello's second season of European Tour golf proved far more successful. In his first eleven events, he missed only one cut, finishing in the top-10 on four occasions and the top-20 a further five times. After such a promising start to the season he suffered a slump in form, making only 2 of his next 10 cuts. However, he bounced back in dramatic style at the Austrian Golf Open in September. Lying nine shots off the lead after the first two rounds, he recorded a third-round 66 to move up the leaderboard, before firing a record-equalling 11-under-par final round of 60 to claim victory by one shot ahead of Benn Barham, who had led for the entire tournament. His performance equalled the record for any round on the European Tour, and was only the third time a player had carded a final round 60 to win a tour event.[1]

His 2010 and 2011 seasons on the European Tour did not result in any victories, but a second place in the 2011 Portugal Masters and three more top-10 placements in the same year helped him to reach the 30th place in the final Order of Merit.

In 2012, he claimed the biggest win of his career at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic against a field containing three of the world's top four. The win also earned him the 60th place in the Official World Golf Ranking, his first time in the top 100.

Despite some notable results, like the second places at the 2014 BMW International Open and the 2015 Lyoness Open, Cabrera-Bello position in the World Raking did not improve between 2013 and 2015. He eventually found an excellent period of form between January and February 2016, when he registered consecutive second places at the 2016 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and 2016 Omega Dubai Desert Classic. A month later, he went on to finish third at the 2016 WGC-Dell Match Play, rising to 36th in the Official World Golf Ranking and as a result, qualifying for the first time for the 2016 Masters Tournament.[4] He followed with a top-5 finish in the Shell Houston Open and earned Special Temporary Member status on the PGA Tour for the remainder of the 2015–16 season, which he managed to convert to full membership at the end of the year by earning more than the 125th player on the Official Money List.[5]

In August 2016, Cabrera-Bello represented Spain in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, finishing tied for 5th place.[6] His performances in 2015 and 2016 also earned him an automatic selection for the 2016 Ryder Cup.

Professional wins (5)

European Tour wins (2)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner(s)-up
1 20 Sep 2009 Austrian Golf Open –20 (71-67-66-60=278) 1 stroke England Benn Barham
2 12 Feb 2012 Omega Dubai Desert Classic –18 (63-69-70-68=270) 1 stroke Scotland Stephen Gallacher, England Lee Westwood

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
1 2014 BMW International Open France Grégory Havret, Sweden Henrik Stenson,
Paraguay Fabrizio Zanotti		 Zanotti won with par on fifth extra hole
Cabrera-Bello eliminated with par on fourth hole
Havret eliminated with birdie on second hole

Challenge Tour wins (2)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 23 Jul 2006 MAN NÖ Open –16 (61-68-66-69=264) 2 strokes Austria Niki Zitny
2 13 Jul 2008 Credit Suisse Challenge –25 (67-64-68-68=267) 2 strokes England Gary Lockerbie

Other wins (1)

Results in major championships

Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Masters Tournament DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T17
U.S. Open T47 DNP CUT DNP DNP DNP T32
The Open Championship DNP DNP T81 T21 CUT T40 T39
PGA Championship DNP DNP CUT T29 73 CUT T49

DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 4
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 3
Totals 0 0 0 0 0 2 14 10

Results in World Golf Championships

Results not in chronological order prior to 2015.

Tournament 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Cadillac Championship 65 T63 DNP DNP T11
Dell Match Play R64 R32 DNP DNP 3
Bridgestone Invitational T29 DNP DNP DNP DNP
HSBC Champions T46 DNP DNP DNP T19

DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Rafael Cabrera Bello wins Austrian Open with final round of 60". The Guardian. 20 September 2009. Retrieved 21 September 2009.
  2. ↑ "Emma Cabrera-Bello". Ladies European Tour. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  3. ↑ "Board of Directors". Ladies European Tour. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  4. ↑ Harig, Bob (27 March 2016). "Masters field taking shape; one more spot up for grabs". ESPN.
  5. ↑ "PGA Tour 2016-17 eligibility ranking". PGA Tour. 10 October 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  6. ↑ "Men's Individual Stroke Play – Standings". Rio 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
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