A triple bogey on the 18th hole, the ninth of his round, as he had started on the 10th hole, once again summoned those ghosts that have made life difficult for Rafa Cabrera Bello (-2) for much of 2024, a year in which the Canary Islander has missed the cut by one or two strokes on numerous occasions…
However, this time the ending was going to be different. Rafa finished with a saving birdie on the 9th hole, a par 5, to give himself the chance to play the final round of the BMW Australian PGA Championship, the first tournament of the 2025 season of the DP World Tour, which will be played over 54 holes. Cabrera Bello had only made two cuts in the last fourteen tournaments of the 2024 season and had set very specific goals for his return to competition, which were more related to mental work. “It’s not normal for everything to go wrong and for me to play so tense and suffer so much on cut day. That can be worked on, and I’m going to do it,” he had commented to Ten Golf after missing the cut at the Estrella Damm Andalucía Masters, just over a month ago.
Said and done. Or, at least, let’s say that in Australian lands there has been an interesting change of dynamics right from the start. “I was standing over the ball on the 9th green, with a putt of just over a metre for birdie, and I thought: well, let’s see what kind of year we’re going to have, we can keep missing the cut by one or turn this around… And it went right in the centre,” the relieved Canary Islander told Ten Golf minutes after handing in that 70-stroke card that could be more important than it seems due to the change in dynamics.
Ángel Ayora (-2) will also be in the final round thanks to a commendable round of 67 strokes. The young Andalusian was practically off any radar after his first fourteen holes of the first round on Thursday, a stretch in which he was four over par and hadn’t managed a single birdie. But a six-under stretch in his last 22 holes, without a single blemish on the card, kept him in the fight. Although it may seem otherwise, the truth is that it wasn’t an easy day for Ayora, who missed too many shots in those distances ranging from 80 to 130 metres, with wedges in hand. However, he did hit an extraordinary shot on the 17th hole, where he holed a one-and-a-half-metre putt for birdie, having also sunk a great birdie putt from about eight metres on the 15th hole.
Alfredo García Heredia (-2) also resolved the 17th with a birdie that confirmed his presence in the final round of the tournament, while Sebas García (-2) finished with a bogey on the 9th hole, but his 70-stroke card will also allow him to stay in the fight. It’s no small matter, considering that the Madrid native won’t be able to play many tournaments this year (he currently has category 20 on the European circuit).
It remains to be confirmed whether Joel Moscatel (-1) will be added to the list. At the time of editing this provisional report, the cut was at -2, as described, but if the playing conditions in the afternoon session toughen with the appearance of the wind, the -1 total, where the Catalan finished, might give him a chance. Who won’t be there for sure on Sunday is Manu Elvira.
