Cabrera-Bello wins in Dubai
Another near-miss in the desert for Westwood
Last Updated: February 12, 2012 3:10pm
Rafael Cabrera-Bello: second European Tour victory
Spaniard Rafael Cabrera-Bello shot a closing bogey-free 68 to win the Dubai Desert Classic by a shot from Lee Westwood and Stephen Gallacher.
The three were locked on 17-under-par with two holes to play but Cabrera-Bello rolled in a nine-foot birdie putt on the 17th to edge ahead.
World number three Westwood took a one-shot lead over Cabrera-Bello into the final round and after making a 35-foot eagle putt on the second to go two clear, he looked on course to win.
But the Englishman struggled with his putting the rest of the way, missing several birdie chances on the back nine, most notably an eight-footer at 17.
Final leaderboard
(GB & Ire unless stated)
-18 R Cabrera-Bello (Spa)
-17 S Gallacher
-17 L Westwood
-15 M Siem (Ger)
Click here for collated scores
Westwood and Gallacher both had a chace to force a play-off on the par five 18th.
But after a superb drive, Westwood hit a poor chip which rolled well past the hole and he was then short with a 25-foot birdie try. Gallacher then also had a putt for a play-off but missed from 15 feet.
That gave victory to the 27-year-old world number 119, who earned a cheque for €315,531 and a two-year European Tour exemption.
Westwood had won twice in his last five starts coming into this week, but he has now finished runner-up in Dubai for the third time.
Consolation
He will have the small consolation, however, of taking the world number two spot back from fifth-placed Rory McIlroy on Monday - by 0.004 ranking points.
Cabrera-Bello became the third Spanish winner of the title in a row after Miguel Angel Jimenez and Alvaro Quiros - Jimenez beat Westwood in a play-off - and he had to wait to see if it was good enough to put him into the 64-man Accenture World Match Play Championship the week after next.
It was his second Tour win, the first coming with a record-equalling closing round of 60 in the Austrian Open three years ago.
"It's an unbelievable feeling and it's been a really spectacular week for me," Cabrera-Bello told Sky Sports, remembering that he began it with nine birdies in 11 holes on his way to an opening 63 on Thursday.
"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 had ups and downs of course, but overall I think I played great. This was the quality jump I was looking for in my game and it's offered me the opportunity to play with the world's best players."
