Golf-Cabrera-Bello upsets Westwood in Dubai
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World No2 Lee Westwood was on the end of the proverbial giant-killing in Dubai on Sunday, as a man outside the top 100, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (No119), pulled off an upset to shake the European Tour.
The 27-year-old from the Canaray Islands, became the Desert Classic champion with a bogey-free closing 68 at The Emirates.
The tournament is a fruitful stomping ground for Spain, Carbrera-Bello made it three in a row for Iberia, as he followed in the foot-steps of compatriots Miguel Angel Jimenez and Alavro Quiros who have all triumphed here in the previous year's iteration.
Only his second Tour win following his astonishing closing 60 in the Austrian Open in 2009, Cabrera-Bello will still have to wait and see if the result is good enough to get him into the 64-man World Match Play Championships in Arizona in a fortnight's time.
"It's an unbelievable feeling and it's been a really spectacular week for me," Cabrera-Bello said, 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."
Cabrera-Bello follows in the lowly-ranked footsteps of England's Robert Rock who shocked Tiger Woods to win the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship last month.
"Just the fact I was able to be successful today proves to me that I'm working on the right line,'' Cabrera-Bello said.
"It gives me a lot of confidence that I have proven to myself that I can perform at least one week as good as them. It's a huge morale booster.''
While Westwood's loss will sting, he may be consoled to an extent by his reclaiming of the world No2 spot, back off the fifth-placed Rory McIlroy. World No4 Martin Kaymer finished joint 13th.
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