Rafael Cabrera-Bello won the Dubai Classic by one shot from Lee Westwood and Stephen Gallagher, his faultless last round of 68 giving him an unbeatable total score of -18 under par. Westwood had led by two strokes, following a superb eagle at the second to take the advantage, but was unable to master the breezy conditions as well as Rafael. The Spaniard was very happy with this result;
“It’s an unbelievable feeling and it’s been a really spectacular week for me. With so many big, big names I felt really proud of myself. I wanted to fight, I stayed calm, I did everything that I’ve read we should do in these type of situations. I really, really feel happy and proud that my name is going to be written down on the same trophy as Seve Ballesteros and José María Olazábal and Jiménez and my great friend, Alvaro. It’s a really amazing feeling for me to be a little bit a part of the same history they are. This will open a lot of doors and this was really the quality jump in my game I was looking for, and I had been practising hard for it.”
(Getty Images)
Stephen Gallacher and Lee Westwood both missed putts to force a play-off on the 18th, and Westwood has now finished as runner-up in this event on three occasions, yet he does have the small consolation of taking the World Number Two spot back off Rory McIlroy – by 0.004 ranking points.
Stephen rued the last missed putt in 18;
“I would have loved to have made the play-off,” said the Scot. “But fair play to Rafa, he played well, and 18 under is a good score in these conditions.
“I struggled a bit off the tee today but I hit a lot of good iron shots and made a few putts at the right time. But I had a chance to sort of get into the play-off on the last, so I’m just a wee bit disappointed but happy overall.”
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