GALLACHER JOINT RUNNER-UP BEHIND WINNER CABRERA-BELLO

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE

Rafael Cabrera-Bello produced a nerveless final round performance to claim the biggest win of his career at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic today.
Picture right by courtesy of Getty Images (c).
One behind Lee Westwood overnight, the 27 year old Spaniard - whose only previous European Tour victory came at the 2009 Austrian Golf Open - carded a bogey-free 68 to reach 18-under-par 270 and triumph by a solitary stroke.
Three of Cabrera-Bello’s birdies came on the back nine as his rivals struggled to make headway in breezy conditions.
Westwood, who had led by two strokes early in the final round following a superb eagle at the second but struggled to find his best form on the greens, and Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher shared second place after respective rounds of 70 and 69. Both men missed putts on the 18th to force a play-off.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling and it’s been a really spectacular week for me,” said Cabrera-Bello, who had rounds of 63, 69 and 70 before today’s 68.
 “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.”
He is the third consecutive Spanish player to win the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, following Miguel Angel Jiménez in 2010 and Alvaro Quiros in 2011.
This is the first time Spanish players have won the same European Tour event for three consecutive years since the Mallorca Classic, when Miguel Angel Jiménez won in 2003, Sergio Garcia in 2004 and José María Olazábal in 2005.
Rafael gains a two-year European Tour exemption until the end of 2014.
This is his biggest European Tour prize of €315,532.
He also gains a place in the 2012 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and 2012 WGC-HSBC Champions as well as possibly winning a place in the 2012 WGC- Accenture Match Play Championship.
Westwood has now finished as runner-up in this event on three occasions, yet he does have the small consolation of taking the World No 2 spot back off Rory McIlroy - by 0.004 ranking points.
Elaborating on the pride he felt, Cabrera-Bello added: “I'm just happy that I was able to win and I was even happier to get a win in a very prestigious event.
“Not just with Lee, whom I admire a lot, but also with all of the big names that were up there contending, like Rory, like Martin (Kaymer), the other guys that came up, like Stephen, like myself, they are all really, really good players.
"Just the fact that I was able today to be successful just proves to me that I'm working on the right line. It gives me a lot of confidence that I have proven to myself that I can perform at least one week as good as themselves. It's just a huge, huge confidence and huge morale boost.”
“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.”
Gallacher reflected on his near-miss with mixed emotions.
“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.”
McIlroy - the 2009 champion - dropped out of contention early on, but picked up four shots on the way home to claim a share of fifth on 14 under, one behind Germany’s Marcel Siem.
Alongside McIlroy were Denmark’s Søren Kjeldsen, whose 67 featured six birdies, Scotland's Scott Jamieson and South Africa’s George Coetzee.
Kaymer, who began the day two adrift of Westwood on 13 under, may have realised it wasn’t going to be his day when he missed presentable birdie chances on each of the first three holes. Although he did pick up a shot on the short fourth, he went on to sign for a 74 that left him in a tie for 13th.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72) Prize money in Euros
270 Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spain) 63 69 70 68 (313,532).
271 Stephen Gallagher (Scotland) 69 65 68 69, Lee Westwood (England) 69 65 67 70 (164,434 each)
273 Marcel Siem (Germany) 65 69 68 71 (94,661).
274 Seren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 68 69 70 67, George Coetzee (S Africa) 69 66 69 70, Rory McIlroy (N Ireland) 66 65 72 71, Scott Jamieson (Scotland) 65 68 70 71 (62,666 each).

OTHER SCOTS' SCORES
281 David Drysdale 70 70 71 70 (T28) (16,850)
285 Richie Ramsay 69 71 73 72, Paul Lawrie 71 70 69 75 (T51) (7,194 each).
293 Colin Montgomerie 71 69 77 76 (T74) (2,825).

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