Rafa

Cabrera Bello

RCB didn’t impress on the tee box with just 6-of-13 fairways hit but made up for it from fairway to pin. The highlights started early with a 43'5" birdie bomb at the 5th and he would sink three more putts from outside of 10 feet before his day was done. He walked off the course gaining roughly 3.2 strokes putting. After the round he spoke about his love of this style of golf, “I also grew up in the Canary Islands, they are windy. I love links course. I think it brings the most imagination out of every player. Normally, I tend to hit it fairly straight. If I miss, I tend to hit it thin and on links courses, if you hit it thin, it will bounce and reach anyway. Those are a few things that can help me, and hey, you always need to putt good.” RCB arrived with nine straight finishes outside of the top 60 but he’s flipping that script this week in Scotland.

The 37-year-old Spaniard had moved into a tie for the lead with four holes to play, but costly bogeys at Nos. 15 and 16 proved to be his undoing, despite finishing with a birdie at his 72nd hole for a final-round, 2-under 70. “I’m just happy that I put myself in that position,” said the four-time DP World Tour winner, whose last title came at the 2021 Open de Espana. “I know if I do that often, I’ll be lifting more trophies.” He’s also got his sights set on bettering his world ranking, which improved from No. 161 to 102 with his runner-up result. “I think I can play better and obviously I’m working hard to get back into the top 50 in the world, and this week for sure is going to give me lots of confidence towards that goal,” said Cabrera Bello, who’s missed just one cut in 15 appearances in Abu Dhabi. He’ll look to build on that confidence this week at the Dubai Desert Classic, where he’ll make his 13th career start. He’s 8-for-12 in cuts made at Emirates GC, with three tops 10s including a victory in 2012 (beating Lee Westwood and Stephen Gallacher by a stroke) and T-2 in 2016 (one stroke behind winner Danny Willett).

The Spaniard contested a Challenge Tour event -- the Parco di Monza Challenge -- at Golf Club Milano in 2006 and shot 67-70-72-65 to finish third. That adds another layer of appeal to gamers who were probably already likely to have him on board. Despite failing to get a win this season, RCB has been a leaderboard regular and was in front after 54 holes in last week’s KLM Open before finishing T7. That was his fourth top 10 in in seven starts outside of the majors. The Spaniard is 5-for-7 in the Italian Open with a best of T9 at Royal Park in 2012.

The 37-year-old Cabrera Bello, who last won at the 2017 Scottish Open, said prior to his start in Madrid that he felt “good scores are right around the corner,” and he followed up his prediction with four straight rounds in the 60s to finish at 19-under 265, tied with Arnaus at the end of regulation. Cabrera Bello’s week was highlighted by bogey-free scores of 65-64 in the second and third rounds, respectively, while Arnaus moved himself into contention with two eagles on the final day to combat two bogeys. Cabrera won with a birdie on the first extra hole of sudden death. “I came here in a pretty bad place with scores being not what I expect them to be, and to be able to get momentum and turn it around and to walk out of here with a win means a lot to me,” he said. “Hopefully I can keep going and get back to the player I know I can be.” Cabrera Bello was making his 17th appearance in the Spanish Open, where his previous best career finish was solo second in 2019. The four-time European Tour winner moved to No. 34 in the world rankings following his 2019 result, but since dropped to No. 231. He moved up to No. 133 with the victory and also vaulted to 30th in the in the Race to Dubai. On the season, he’s made eight cuts in 10 starts. Cabrera Bello will look to keep the momentum rolling in Spain this week at the Andalucia Masters at Real Club Valderrama.

The 37-year-old will make his 17th appearance in the Spanish Open, where he recorded his best career finish in 2019 with a solo second place, finishing at 17-under 267 and five shots behind winner and fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm. “It’s been a hard two years,” said Cabrera Bello, who moved to No. 34 in the world rankings following his 2019 result but has since dropped to No. 231. “Obviously I’ve dropped down a lot on the world rankings and the scores haven’t been going the way I want. There have been some moments where I’ve really felt a little lost and not understanding why. I don’t feel like that right now. I know my game is much better, I know I’m hitting the ball much better and I know the good scores are right around the corner.” On the season, he’s made seven cuts in nine European Tour starts, and he was 12-for-26 in PGA Tour action this past season, finishing the regular-season FedExCup at 170th. He’s currently 72 in the Race to Dubai. Cabrera Bello has made 11 cuts in 16 starts at the Open de Espana.

Torrey Pines South is yielding a bogey-or-worse rate of 26 percent this morning but none of those came from Cabrera Bello. He was the only golfer from the morning wave to turn in a clean card. The highlight of his round was a chip-in for eagle from the greenside rough at the par-5 18th but he also stuffed a wedge for a tap-in birdie at the par-4 second hole and saved par twice from outside of eight feet. Cabrera Bello walked off the course gaining 2.32 strokes around-the-green and another 2.27 strokes putting. He will want to clean up the ball-striking tomorrow but it’s hard to complain about a bogey-free opening round. Playing in his eighth U.S. Open, this will be the fifth round where he’s posted inside of the top 10. That includes three rounds in last year’s edition where he was T8 or better after rounds one thru three before fading to T23 on Sunday. His best finish in a major was a T4 in the 2017 Open Championship.

Rain and storm delays are a common occurrence when the TOUR heads to Jack’s Place but the good news is that the forecast looks to be clearing up after today. One player that squeezed in his round just before the horn blew was Rafa Cabrera Bello who posted a 4-under 68 today to find himself just two shots off the early pace set by Collin Morikawa. The 2020 course renovations are proving tough (field scoring average of 73.17) but the top of the board is proving that low rounds are still out there. As for Cabrera Bello, he gained strokes over the field in all four sub-categories, lapping the field average by 5.1 shots in total. That shatters his previous best at Muirfield Village (12 previous rounds) which was round four of the 2019 Memorial where he gained 2.1 shots over the field average that day.

This is the Spaniard’s second Nelson after a T53 in 2019 at Trinity Forest on 8-under 276 (70-70-67-69). After kicking off with 64-71, he began T22 on 9-under, two shy of the overnight top 10. The 36-year-old, who celebrates his birthday in 10 days (May 25th), camouflaged one bogey with seven birdies on eight (of 14) fairways and 11 greens in regulation. He lost 0.755 strokes off-the-tee but gained 1.001 approaching and 1.653 around-the-green, currently No. 1 in the latter with a cumulative 5.403. Post-round: “It was nice to get off to a strong start which is kind of something that I felt I needed.” Cabrera Bello, whose highlights included four consecutive circles at holes 3-6, posted 1.231 SG: Putting and after three days in Texas, is currently ranked 64th (of 72) in SG: Off-the-Tee (-1.199) and 46th in SGP (0.211). This is his first time in the top 10 after 54 holes since the U.S. Open back in September, where he was T8 before finishing a season-best T23 (68-70-74-78).

RCB set the tone early with a chip-in birdie at the par-4 10th to get his morning started in style. He backed that up with three more birdies from 11 thru 13 and picked off two more before the turn. He “settled” for a ho-hum 34 on his homeward nine. What is most impressive about his round today is that he gained just 0.2 strokes putting. Other than his chip-in birdie, there was nothing poured in from long range. The Spaniard walked off the course ranked 2nd in strokes gained approach (+3.887) and is now well-positioned for the first time in a long while on the PGA TOUR. He hasn’t been inside of the top 10 after any round since round three of the 2020 U.S. Open last September (13 starts since then). If this early co-lead holds then it’ll be his third career first-round lead or co-lead on the PGA TOUR (T5 at the 2016 Wyndham Championship and T3 at the 2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational).