Rafa Cabrera-Bello

Rafael Cabrera-Bello (born 25 May 1984) is a Spanish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, where he has won four times. He has also played on the PGA Tour.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Cabrera and the second or maternal family name is Bello.
Rafa Cabrera-Bello
Personal information
Full nameRafael Cabrera-Bello
Born (1984-05-25) 25 May 1984
Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain
Height1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight81 kg (179 lb; 12.8 st)
Sporting nationality Spain
ResidenceMaspalomas, Gran Canaria, Spain
Career
Turned professional2005
Current tour(s)European Tour
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Challenge Tour
Professional wins7
Highest ranking16 (23 July 2017)[1]
(as of 22 October 2023)
Number of wins by tour
European Tour4
Challenge Tour2
Other1
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT17: 2016
PGA ChampionshipT10: 2018
U.S. OpenT23: 2020
The Open ChampionshipT4: 2017
Medal record
Mediterranean Games
Silver medal – second place2001 TunisMen's team

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 Canarias Open de España,[2] a European Tour event. He was a student at the American School of Las Palmas.[3]

His sister Emma Cabrera-Bello is also a professional golfer playing on the Ladies European Tour (LET)[4] and sitting on the LET Board of Directors.[5]

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.[2]

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 Rankings 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.[6] 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.[7]

In August 2016, Cabrera-Bello represented Spain in the 2016 Summer Olympics, finishing tied for 5th place.[8] His performances in 2015 and 2016 also earned him an automatic selection for the 2016 Ryder Cup.

Cabrera-Bello recorded an albatross in the fourth round of the 2017 Players Championship. In July 2017, Cabrero-Bello had his first European Tour win since 2012, winning the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open after defeating Callum Shinkwin in a play-off on the 18th hole at Dundonald Links, Irvine, after both players had finished on 13 under par.[9]

In 2021, Cabrera-Bello recorded his first victory in four years in his home country at the Acciona Open de España. He beat Adri Arnaus in a playoff.[10]

Professional wins (7)

European Tour wins (4)
Legend
Rolex Series (1)
Other European Tour (3)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner(s)-up
1 20 Sep 2009 Austrian Golf Open −20 (71-67-66-60=264) 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
3 16 Jul 2017 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open −13 (70-72-69-64=275) Playoff England Callum Shinkwin
4 10 Oct 2021 Acciona Open de España −19 (67-65-64-69=265) Playoff Spain Adri Arnaus

European Tour playoff record (2–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
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 by par on fourth hole
Havret eliminated by birdie on second hole
2 2017 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open England Callum Shinkwin Won with birdie on first extra hole
3 2021 Acciona Open de España Spain Adri Arnaus Won with birdie on first extra 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

Challenge Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
1 2008 Ypsilon Golf Challenge England Seve Benson, South Africa Branden Grace Benson won with birdie on third extra hole
Grace eliminated by birdie on second hole

Other wins (1)
  • 2005 Canarias Professional Championship (as an amateur)

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

Tournament201020112012201320142015201620172018
Masters Tournament T17 CUT T38
U.S. Open T47 CUT T32 T42 T36
The Open Championship T81 T21 CUT T40 T39 T4 74
PGA Championship CUT T29 73 CUT T49 CUT T10
Tournament 201920202021
Masters Tournament T36 T51
PGA Championship T71 CUT
U.S. Open T65 T23 T50
The Open Championship CUT NT CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary
TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Masters Tournament00000154
PGA Championship00001195
U.S. Open00000187
The Open Championship00011296
Totals0001253122
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 7 (2018 Masters – 2019 U.S. Open)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (twice)

Results in The Players Championship
Tournament 2016 2017 2018 2019
The Players Championship CUT T4 T17 CUT
  Top 10

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

Results not in chronological order before 2015.

Tournament2012201320142015201620172018201920202021
Championship 65 T63 T11 T38 T3 T19 T16 T59
Match Play R64 R32 3 T17 T36 T24 NT1
Invitational T29 72 T17 T12 78
Champions T46 T19 T5 T14 T57 NT1 NT1

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
NT = no tournament
"T" = tied

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

References
  1. "Week 29 2017 Ending 23 Jul 2017" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  2. "Rafael Cabrera Bello wins Austrian Open with final round of 60". The Guardian. 20 September 2009. Retrieved 21 September 2009.
  3. "ASLP".
  4. "Emma Cabrera-Bello". Ladies European Tour. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  5. "Board of Directors". Ladies European Tour. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  6. Harig, Bob (27 March 2016). "Masters field taking shape; one more spot up for grabs". ESPN.
  7. "PGA Tour 2016–17 eligibility ranking". PGA Tour. 10 October 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  8. "Men's Individual Stroke Play – Standings". Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 22 September 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  9. Murray, Ewan (16 July 2017). "Rafa Cabrera-Bello beats Callum Shinkwin in Scottish Open play-off". The Guardian.
  10. "Cabrera Bello wins Spanish duel for Open de España glory". European Tour. 10 October 2021.
  11. "European Boys' Team Championship – European Golf Association". 19 October 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  12. "European Youths Team Championship". European Golf Association. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
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