Cabrera-Bello wins Dubai Desert Classic

Rafael Cabrera-Bello pulled off another shock on the European Tour today when he out-played Lee Westwood to win the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

Two weeks after England’s Robert Rock beat Tiger Woods and the world’s top four in Abu Dhabi the 27-year-old Canary Islander became the Dubai champion with a bogey-free closing 68 at The Emirates.

Third round leader Westwood finished runner-up in the event for the third time after failing to birdie any of the last five holes.

He does have the small consolation, however, of taking the world number two spot back off fifth-placed Rory McIlroy – by 0.004 ranking points.

Even at the long 18th a play-off looked likely, but off a fine drive the Worksop golfer went left of the green, chipped nearly 25 feet past the flag and missed the putt.

Scot Stephen Gallacher could still deny Cabrera-Bello as a result, but after laying up from the rough he missed his 12-foot birdie attempt.

That made the 37-year-old joint second with Westwood and means he still has only one victory on the circuit in 379 starts going back almost two decades.

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 in Arizona 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.

“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.”