Tag: Rafa Cabrera-Bello

Tale of two Spaniards: Jon Rahm implodes at Valderrama, Rafa Cabrera-Bello looking for back-to-back wins

“There’s nowhere to hide. You have to be the best,” Rahm said.

It wasn’t too long ago, Rafa Cabrera-Bello was wondering when he’d finally break a more than four-year drought.

Just a few days, in fact.

Cabrera-Bello captured the Spanish Open on Sunday, fending off Adri Arnaus on the first playoff hole at Club de Campo Villa in Madrid, Spain for his first victory since the 2017 Scottish Open. He had slipped to 231st in the Official World Golf Ranking, before joining fellow Spaniards Seve Ballesteros, Sergio Garcia, Miguel Ángel Jiménez and Jon Rahm in winning their country’s national title.

And the 37-year-old who now calls Dubai home is showing no signs of slowing down, using a 68 in the opening round at Valderrama to hang near the top of the leaderboard at the Andalucía Masters.

At the opposite end of the spectrum — at least temporarily — sits Rahm, the world’s top player, who struggled to a birdie-free 78 on Thursday.

For Cabrera-Bello, he’s had a few days to allow his previous victory to sink in, one that held tremendous meaning for him.

“It was a very, very special week. It’s a trophy I really, really wanted to win. For us Spaniards, nationally it’s the most prestigious event you can win. It’s definitely like a fifth major,” Cabrera-Bello said. “With so many great Spanish players who have won it before. I felt I had been close the previous year when Jon won. I’ve had a fantastic love affair with it since I played it for the first time as an amateur in 2002. I’m very proud to have added my name to that trophy.”

On Thursday, Cabrera-Bello started fast, posting birdies on two of the first three holes. He sits a single shot behind leader Julien Guerrier on a course he’s long admired.

No. 17 at Valderrama (Golfweek files)

“It’s an amazing golf course. It’s almost like the Augusta of Europe. It is one of the most intimidating, if not the most intimidating golf course I’ve ever played. Shots, don’t need to be good, they need to be perfect,” he said. “Or as close to perfect as you can produce, because the margin between a great shot and a bad one is very, very narrow. You have to be on top of your game. Whoever wins this week gains a lot of respect from players because we know how difficult a test this is. You can’t get lucky around this course. You have to play great.”

Meanwhile, Rahm didn’t share the same positive vibes as his countrymate, shooting a 42 on the back nine that included a double on No. 18.

Prior to his appearance at Valderrama — his second straight week of playing before the Spanish fans as a major champ — Rahm insisted the track produces a true champion.

“It’s extremely difficult. It’s a golf course where, on a perfect day, 80 degrees no wind, if you shoot under par it’s a good score. When the wind gets going, it’s a challenge,” he said. “It’s not a long golf course. You don’t have to hit it hard off the tee, but you do need to put the ball in play. Every shot is going to make you think about what you’re doing. Every time there’s an event here, whoever wins was truly the best player that week. There’s nowhere to hide. You have to be the best.

“There’s no luck involved here. You go into the trees, you struggle, if you’re in the fairway, you have a chance. You can’t hide.”

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Rafa Cabrera Bello outlasts fellow Spaniard Adri Arnaus to win Spanish Open

After slipping to 231st in the Official World Golf Ranking, Rafa Cabrera Bello wins his country’s national title.

It was an all-Spanish playoff on Sunday in the Spanish Open, with Rafa Cabrera Bello fending off Adri Arnaus on the first playoff hole at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid in Madrid, Spain.

Bello drained a birdie putt and then thrust his fist in the air in celebration. He closed with a 69 while Arnaus shot a final-round 67 as the two finished regulation at 19 under.

Bello started the day with a two-shot lead, then saw it disappear with a double bogey on the first hole. He was then two shots back to Arnaus after nine holes but a clutch up-and-down from a bunker on the 18th hole forced a playoff.

Bello has now won four times on the Euro Tour but it’s his first win on the circuit in four years. He has slipped to 231st in the Official World Golf Ranking, but Bello now joins fellow Spaniards Seve Ballesteros, Sergio Garcia and Miguel Ángel Jiménez in winning their country’s national title.

“It was definitely one trophy that was on my bucket list,” Bello said. “To join my name to all those champions—Alvaro (Quiros) as well that I can think of—it’s very, very special.”

Grant Forrest, playing in the same group as Jon Rahm in the final round, missed the playoff by two shots but did close with a 28 on his back nine Sunday. He went par-par on Nos. 10 and 11 but then went six under on a five-hole stretch, going birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie on Nos. 12-16. He closed with a birdie on 18 to cap his day.

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Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello takes over top spot at Spanish Open; Jon Rahm six back

A different Spaniard has become the frontrunner in Madrid with one round to go at the Spanish Open.

Rafa Cabrera Bello certainly has the home crowd behind him at the Acciona Open de Espana, and the Spaniard will need it as he takes a two-shot lead into the final round at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. Cabrera Bello positioned himself at the top of the leaderboard in Saturday’s third round with a bogey-free 64.

At the beginning of the week, all eyes were on another Spanish player: World No. 1 Jon Rahm. But after opening rounds of 63-67, Rahm slid to a 1-over 72 on Saturday and at 11 under, is six shots off the lead and part of a tie for ninth.

That leaves Cabrera Bello in the lead spot and with a chance to better his runner-up finish at this event in 2019, the last time it was played. A win would check an interesting box for the 37-year-old in his long competitive career.

“I’ve won every Spanish amateur title there is and I’m missing this one which would be the pinnacle of Spanish golf,” he said. “I’m going to have a very good chance at it tomorrow but I’m sure there’ll be more chances in the future too so I’ll just go out there, have fun, feed off the crowd and try to put on a show for them again.

“Today was one of my favorite days ever out there, in front of my countrymen, playing on a course that I love and with beautiful conditions, I felt really good. I felt their support – I was getting goosebumps almost every hole hearing them yelling my name, it was very special and I’m very proud that I could put on a show for them.”

Cabrera Bello didn’t make a single bogey on the day, and has made only two bogeys in three rounds as he played his way to 17 under, two shots ahead of compatriot Adri Arnaus and Frenchman Julien Guerrier.

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Powered by eagle hole-out, Sergio Garcia goes low on first day at AT&T Bryson Nelson

Sergio Garcia is getting a jump on his PGA Championship prep in his home state of Texas.

Sergio Garcia got a jump start on his PGA Championship prep on Thursday.

With birdies at Nos. 12, 14 and 18, Garcia (who started on the back nine) made the turn at the AT&T Byron Nelson at 3 under. He then added birdies on Nos. 1 and 5 before coming upon the 348-yard par-4 sixth hole. A 293-yard drive left him 52 yards from the hole. From there, he wedged up past the hole, put a little backspin on the ball and seemingly even surprised himself when the ball rolled in for an eagle 2.

“As soon as hit it I knew it was going to be close,” Garcia said. “Didn’t know if it was going to go in or not, but knew it was going to be close.

“It was nice to hear the crowd go a little bit crazy there, because we couldn’t see it go in.”

Garcia, who lives in the Austin, Texas, area, made the three-and-a-half-hour drive to the north side of Dallas for the event, where he is a two-time winner. His eagle hole-out tied him for the lead at 7 under. J.J. Spaun would later birdie his final hole to get to 9 under and take the clubhouse lead with a 63 but Garcia is right there after the first round.

Garcia closed with three straight pars and walked off the course in a seven-way tie for second at 7 under.

“It was obviously a great round,” he said. “I would’ve loved to birdie the last hole, I’m not going to lie. But, you know, I think overall it was a solid day. A lot of good things.

“Couple of things that could have been better, but overall it was nice and putted nicely. So very happy with the way it went.”

After his round, Bello talked about how this year has been tough for him but “today felt really nice.”

He went on to say that he hoped his opening-hole birdie wasn’t actually a bad sign.

“To be fair, the last two events I missed the cut and I started with birdie first hole that I played, so I told my brother, I hope this doesn’t mean that we’re going to play bad the rest of the day,” he said. “So that was the first thing that went through my mind.”

J.J. Spaun later took the lead at 9 under after shooting a 63.

“I haven’t been in this position in a while,” Spaun said. “I’m just going to keep trying to do what I been doing last week and this week. … just stay in the present. You know, don’t be scared. Fire away. Make as many birdies as I can. If I do it, great. If I don’t, well as least I tried. That’s the mindset I’m going into for the rest of this week.”

Koepka, Spieth, Matsuyama make returns

Brooks Koepka, who suffered a right knee-cap dislocation and ligament damage that forced him to withdraw from the Players Championship on March 7, is playing for the first time since he missed the cut at the Masters.

Koepka birdied No. 9, his final hole, to shoot an opening-round, 1-under 71. His scorecard had four birdies and three bogeys.

Jordan Spieth, who last played at Augusta National, contracted COVID-19 during his time off. About 10 days after the conclusion of the Masters, Spieth tested positive. He says he didn’t know how he got it, nor did he lose his appetite or sense of smell but he did have to quarantine in his Dallas home away from his wife, Annie, as he successfully defeated the virus.

The Byron Nelson is also the first tournament back for Hideki Matsuyama since he won the Masters. During his time off, he returned to his native Japan, where he received the Prime Minister’s award from Yoshihide Suga in Tokyo.

“I realize now the responsibility that goes with a major championship, especially the Masters,” Matsuyama said, “I’m honored. I’m flattered by the added attention, but at the same time, sometimes it’s difficult to say no. But it goes with the territory and, again, grateful that I have this opportunity and I’ll try my best to prepare well for what’s to come.”

Matsuyama said he planned to use this week at TPC Craig Ranch “to try to find my game again and prepare for the PGA Championship next week.”

Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio and Adam Schupak contributed to this article.

Rafa Cabrera-Bello’s putt hung on lip for 27 seconds. Should there have been a penalty?

After further review, the putt stands. It was deemed that Rafa Cabrera-Bello didn’t take too long to fall into the hole at the Wyndham.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – After further review, the putt stands.

Rafa Cabrera-Bello’s 19-foot birdie putt at the par-3 7th hole hung on the right edge of the lip for what seemed like an eternity before it finally dropped. The Spaniard, who entered the week ranked No. 133, went on to shoot 3-under 67 at Sedgewood Country Club.

But the 27 seconds it took from the time Cabrera-Bello hit his putt to the time his Titleist 3 golf ball with his initials on it fell in the hole was brought to the attention of Rules officials, and the Tour’s Mark Russell discussed the matter with Cabrera-Bello after the round.

The question at hand: Did he get to the hole in a reasonable amount of time?

“It was inconclusive,” said Russell, the Tour’s vice president of rules and competition. “We’re talking about a second or two. I didn’t think it was definitive enough. It was splitting hairs.”

Rule 13.3. states that if any part of a player’s ball overhangs the lip of the hole the player is allowed a “reasonable” amount of time to reach the hole. Once a player gets to the hole, he receives 10 more seconds to see if the ball will drop.

According to the Rules of Golf, after 10 seconds, the ball is treated as being at rest. If the putt had fallen in, it would have counted as holed and Cabrera-Bello would get one penalty stroke added to the score for the hole.

Wyndham Championship: Leaderboard | Best photos

“You’re just like praying for it to go in and you’re kind of waiting. And I’m like, oh, it’s not going to fall,” Cabrera-Bello said. “But then I saw my playing partners walk up to the ball and start staring at it and I thought like they must be seeing it moving.

“And a few seconds later I started walking at the hole and when I was getting – when I was reaching the ball, it dropped. And we reviewed the footage and the referee said that it was so, so close and so tight, but they wanted to know if I have deliberately slowed down my walk to the hole and I told them that I didn’t, I slowed down because I saw my playing partners walking in.

“I didn’t know the 10-second rule, when it actually came in effect. I didn’t know if it was after I had hit the ball or when you reach the ball or exactly – I didn’t know exactly when. I wasn’t trying to gain anything, it was just one of those one-in-a-thousand scenarios that luckily for me I end up with a birdie.”

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Rafael Cabrera-Bello stranded in Florida since Players Championship

Cabrera-Bello and family rented a home in Ponte Vedra Beach and when they couldn’t fly back to Dubai they extended the lease through May 31.

Rafael Cabrera-Bello of Spain hit one of the signature shots in the history of The Players Championship in 2017, making the first-ever albatross at the par-5 16th hole of the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

The three-time European PGA Tour winner has had more than time on his hands to practice just a few hundred yards from that hole — or perhaps to try and recreate it.

It was an 8-iron, from 181 yards, after a massive 337-yard drive.

Bello has been unable to get he and his family — plus his agent and his wife and daughter — back to their home in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, because of coronavirus-related travel restrictions. They rented a home in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, for the week of The Players, and when it was clear they couldn’t fly back to Dubai, they extended the lease through May 31.

“We’ve only been able to make decisions with the information we had at the time,” Bello told PGATour.com.

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With Bello is his wife, Sofia, and their 8-month-old daughter, Alva Margareta. Filling out the home are his manager, Richard Rayment; Rayment’s wife, Gabby; and their daughter Nikki.

It’s not a new experience — they all live in the same apartment building in Dubai.

“After The Players, we thought, OK, what are we going to do? We decided to rent a place for two weeks,” Rayment told PGATour.com. “Then things changed quickly. The UAE closed its borders, so we had to find another home and got the one we’re in now for a month and possibly one more. So really we’re just here, on lockdown a long way from home. It’s crazy, what’s happening. I’ve made so many calls I could be a travel agent here.”

Bello shot 68 in the first round of The Players. He said he’s hit some balls at the practice area or played nine holes at a time. The only times he’s left Ponte Vedra Beach is to see swing coach David Leadbetter in Orlando.

Bello said his family is scattered throughout Europe, but is doing well, including his 89-year-old grandmother Egda, who lives in Gran Canaria, Spain.

“I speak with them every other day, and send texts,” he told PGATour.com. “My brother is in Malaga, my sister in London. My wife’s family, her mom lives in Portugal, and her dad in Sweden. They are all safe and healthy.

“It’s more a concern for our grandparents who are high age and higher risk. We’re going to learn to enjoy every single day because in the blink of an eye things can change so dramatically. The hardest thing is to see so much suffering and worrying about loved ones. I know the end of the tunnel is somewhere, but I just don’t know where it is.”