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.
Early life 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, a European Tour event. He was a student at the American School of Las Palmas.
His sister Emma Cabrera-Bello is also a professional golfer playing on the Ladies European Tour (LET) and sitting on the LET Board of Directors.
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.
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. 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.
In August 2016, Cabrera-Bello represented Spain in the 2016 Summer Olympics, finishing tied for 5th place. 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.
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.
Professional wins (7) European Tour wins (4) Legend Rolex Series (1)Other European Tour (3) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-up120 Sep 2009Austrian Golf Open−20 (71-67-66-60=264)1 stroke Benn Barham212 Feb 2012Omega Dubai Desert Classic−18 (63-69-70-68=270)1 stroke Stephen Gallacher, Lee Westwood316 Jul 2017Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open−13 (70-72-69-64=275)Playoff Callum Shinkwin410 Oct 2021Acciona Open de España−19 (67-65-64-69=265)Playoff Adri Arnaus
European Tour playoff record (2–1) No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result12014BMW International Open Grégory Havret, Henrik Stenson, Fabrizio ZanottiZanotti won with par on fifth extra holeCabrera-Bello eliminated by par on fourth holeHavret eliminated by birdie on second hole22017Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open Callum ShinkwinWon with birdie on first extra hole32021Acciona Open de España Adri ArnausWon with birdie on first extra hole
Challenge Tour wins (2) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner-up123 Jul 2006MAN NÖ Open−16 (61-68-66-69=264)2 strokes Niki Zitny213 Jul 2008Credit Suisse Challenge−25 (67-64-68-68=267)2 strokes Gary Lockerbie
Challenge Tour playoff record (0–1) No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult12008Ypsilon Golf Challenge Seve Benson, Branden GraceBenson won with birdie on third extra holeGrace 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. Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018Masters TournamentT17CUTT38U.S. OpenT47CUTT32T42T36The Open ChampionshipT81T21CUTT40T39T474PGA ChampionshipCUTT2973CUTT49CUTT10 Tournament201920202021Masters TournamentT36T51PGA ChampionshipT71CUTU.S. OpenT65T23T50The Open ChampionshipCUTNTCUT
CUT = missed the half way cut "T" indicates a tie for a place. NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic
Summary Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts madeMasters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 4PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 1 1 9 5U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 7The Open Championship 0 0 0 1 1 2 9 6Totals 0 0 0 1 2 5 31 22 Most consecutive cuts made – 7 (2018 Masters – 2019 U.S. Open) Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (twice)
Results in The Players Championship Tournament2016201720182019The Players ChampionshipCUTT4T17CUT
CUT = missed the halfway cut "T" indicates a tie for a place
Results in World Golf Championships Results not in chronological order before 2015. Tournament 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 20202021Championship65T63T11T38T3T19T16T59Match PlayR64R323T17T36T24NT1InvitationalT2972T17T1278ChampionsT46T19T5T14T57NT1NT1 1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play NT = no tournament "T" = tied
Team appearances Amateur Junior Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 1999 (winners) Jacques Léglise Trophy (representing Continental Europe): 2000, 2001 (winners), 2002 Eisenhower Trophy (representing Spain): 2000, 2004 European Boys' Team Championship (representing Spain): 2001, 2002 (winners) European Amateur Team Championship (representing Spain): 2001, 2005 European Youths' Team Championship (representing Spain): 2004
Professional World Cup (representing Spain): 2013, 2016 Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 2016 EurAsia Cup (representing Europe): 2018 (winners)
See also 2006 Challenge Tour graduates 2008 Challenge Tour graduates
References
External links