After making a dream start to the 2016 Race to Dubai season, Rafa Cabrera Bello finds himself at Augusta National in the Masters Tournament after breaking into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking.
Ten years after he first secured a spot on the European Tour through the European Challenge Tour, we chart the Spaniard’s steady rise to the top of world golf.
Born in Las Palmas in the sunny Canary Islands, Cabrera Bello grew up with a club in his hand. After taking up the sport aged six, little Rafa would play with his younger sister Emma, now a successful player on the Ladies European Tour, and brother Miguel, also now a professional, on a golf course next to the family home.
Hours practising in the searing heat paid dividends for the Spaniard, who won his country’s National Championship at every age group level from under seven through to under 18.
As a 17 year old amateur, Cabrera Bello finished tied fourth at the Spanish Open on the European Tour. This proved to be the catalyst that led him to turn professional aged 20 in 2005, when, after narrowly missing out on a European Tour card at Qualifying School Final Stage, he gained a place on the Challenge Tour for 2006.
Cabrera Bello took to life as a Challenge Tour professional well with a third-place finish in his ninth tour event. The then-22 year old did not have to wait long for his first victory, which came two months later at the MAN NÖ Open in Austria.
A 13th-place finish in the 2006 Challenge Tour Rankings secured the young Spaniard a place on the European Tour for the 2007 season.
After failing to retain his European Tour card for 2008, Cabrera Bello carried on where he had left off on the Challenge Tour.
Now 24 years old Cabrera Bello battled his way to two top five finishes in his first three events on Europe’s top developmental tour – before he claimed his second Challenge Tour title at the Credit Suisse Challenge.
A further runner-up finish at the Ypsilon Golf Challenge by Alex Cejka helped secure the Spaniard’s return to the European Tour for the 2009 campaign.
Cabrera Bello with his Austrian Golf Open trophy
Cabrera Bello’s second season on European golf’s top tier proved to be far more fruitful; in his first 11 events he missed only one cut and had four top ten finishes.
His first win on the European Tour came at the 2009 Austrian Golf Open where, lying nine shots off the lead after two rounds, he romped to a dramatic victory with a stunning 11 under par final round of 60.
Despite a number of strong performances, Cabrera Bello would have to wait three years for his second big win – the 2012 Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
The Spaniard held off Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy, among others, to win with an 18 under par total - helped considerably by a superb 63 in his first round.
Cabrera Bello celebrates winning the Omega Desert Classic
After cementing himself as a consistent challenger on the European Tour, Cabrera Bello raised his game to become a serious competitor in 2016.
The 31 year old started the year with a top 15 finish at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship before back-to-back runner-up finishes at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and Omega Dubai Desert Classic – a remarkable Desert Swing.
He then showed he had the capabilities to beat the world’s best at the WGC-Dell Match Play in Austin, Texas. Hideki Matsuyama, Kevin Kisner, Byeong Hun An, Ryan Moore and World Number Three McIlroy were all toppled by Cabrera Bello, who took third place.
The result lifted him to World Number 36 and into the field for the Masters, where he will be one of the in-form players in the tournament.
Away from the course, Cabrera Bello is a keen surfer – let’s hope he can keep riding this wave of good form at Augusta this week.
