Rafa Cabrera-Bello shot a final-round 69 and then beat countryman Adri Arnaus in a playoff to break a four-year winless drought and win the Acciona Open de Espana.
The 37-year-old Spaniard, who entered the final round with a two shot lead, got off to a horrific start with a double bogey on the very first hole. He got a shot back with a birdie on No. 4, and after eight straight pars, he reeled off a timely hat-trick of birdies on Nos. 13-15 to grab a share of the lead on 19 under. A brilliant up and down to save par on the final hole gave the former Ryder Cup star a Sunday 69.
Playing the 18th again in overtime, Cabrera-Bello was a bit shaky off the tee but roped his approach to 11 feet and clinched victory with a birdie putt.
“It was definitely one trophy that was on my bucket list,” said Cabrera-Bello. “To join my name to all those champions – Alvaro (Quiros) as well that I can think of – it’s very, very special.
“I’m very, very happy. I knew it was going to be a really hard battle today and I don’t think I need to say that I didn’t get off to the ideal start.
“I’ve been believing in myself, I’ve had amazing support all this week rooting for me ever since the first minute and I was just hanging in there, I knew I’d have an opportunity and I’m glad that luck swung my way.
“I’ve loved this city (Madrid) since I came here for the first time but the last couple of years I’ve felt a really, really special connection with the crowd and the support has helped me a lot.
“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. Hopefully I can keep going and get back to the player I know I can be.”
Scot Grant Forrest came home in 28 to finish two shots out of the play-off at 17 under alongside Frenchman Julien Guerrier and India’s Shubhankar Sharma.
