Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello leads an impressive field at the Dubai Desert Classic after the opening round Thursday.
Spaniard Rafael Cabrera-Bello upstaged three of the world’s top four players to lead the Dubai Desert Classic after a blistering opening round of nine-under-par.
The 27-year-old fired seven birdies on the back nine to give him a two-shot lead over the rest of the field, that includes world No. 2 Lee Westwood and No. 3 Rory McIlroy, the 2011 U.S. Open champion.
Germany’s Marcel Siem and Scott Jamieson, from Scotland, are on the heels of Cabrera-Bello on seven-under with a clutch of players including McIlroy and Germany’s Martin Kaymer — world No. 4 — on six-under.
At one stage Cabrera-Bello was on course for a round under 60, a feat that has never been achieved on the European Tour, but the 2009 Dubai champion missed out by four shots.
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Cabrera-Bello told the European Tour’s official website: “Just for a second after the birdie on number two (his 11th hole) I tried to do the maths on what I needed for 59.
“Then I told myself to stop being foolish and don’t be too greedy. Nothing wrong happened — there were some tough holes to come and I didn’t drop a stroke.
“It’s a really, really good score, but in itself it means nothing. If you want to stay grounded you think of how many leaders of the first round win the tournament. Not that many.”
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McIlroy was watched during his opening round by girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki, former women’s tennis No. 1, and after completing his first eight holes in one-over-par, seven birdies in the final ten holes transformed his day.
He said: “I was pretty slow starting off and after my best shot of the day on the seventh three-putted from four feet.
“I just needed to get something to happen, made a nice birdie on nine and went on a run from there. Seeing nine under on the leaderboard early is tough — you think you should be doing better.”
Kaymer, the 2010 U.S. PGA champion, eagled the last to leap to six-under while world No. 2 Lee Westwood, from England, carded four birdies and one bogey in his opening round to sit on three-under.
