Rafa Cabrera Bello (-2) had it very clear this winter. He wrote it in his blog on Ten Golf. Irons, irons, irons and more irons. If the irons go well, life will look different. Or at least the scorecards. The Canary Islander’s cards lacked red in 2023. Yes, the game was tidy, confidence was returning, practice sessions were reinforcing. The path was the right one. There were no doubts, but there was a lack of that little click with the second shots to see that improvement reflected in the results. Today, on the first day of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, there has been some of that, something more than good brushstrokes. We indulge ourselves…
On hole 7 he hit the 8 iron and left it less than a meter away. On hole 11 he drew a textbook fade, one that brings out a genuine and sincere smile, and he put it a meter and a half away. On hole 16, a tough nut, he hit a 6 iron from the second cut of rough and the ball stopped another scant meter from the hole. Pim, pam, pum. Three laser irons, house brand. Likewise, it is worth highlighting the par he saved on hole 9 that boosted the round. He missed the fairway on the left, was forced to play short and saved a sensational par with a putt of more than nine meters. He immediately made birdies on 10 and 11. Turning point.
Rafa is starting his nineteenth season on the DP World Tour. Nobody has to explain to him how things are. He won’t be the one to jump for joy after 18 holes. Or 72. Today is just one more demonstration that the line of work he started just over a year and a half ago is on the right track. The results help with happiness, but they are not everything. The most important thing is the feelings and those, no matter what happens tomorrow, are good. Rafa is more relaxed and calm because since last year he comes out more and more reinforced from each practice session. The results will come. Maybe this week, next week or in a month, but they will come. The current situation has nothing to do with two years ago, when he couldn’t find the light on the course.
His round of 70 strokes, his best result here since the third round of 2022, should be positively valued. The conditions were not easy. The rough is more than spicy, the fairways are not easy to catch and from the high grass you are constantly looking at the bogey. You have to play very well to make birdies and Rafa has made five. Sometimes the cotton doesn’t lie.
Ángel Hidalgo (-1) and Santi Tarrio (-1) also beat the course. Anything under par this Thursday is good. Hidalgo has polished his new Cobra driver. He had only played 54 holes with it before today’s round (a ProAm in Guadalmina on All Fools’ Day) and four nine-hole rounds this week. In fact, with the top-notch configuration, only the 36 holes this week can be counted, as it was here at the Emirates when they finished adjusting it to his liking. The feelings with the club were not the best in the training days, but today it has behaved very well.
“For me the key on this course (where he made top 10 last year) is to come out alive from the first nine holes”, he assures Ten Golf. Today he has done it, with +1, and then he hit the shot of the day. It was on the 10th. A majestic 7 wood (Callaway Paradym Smoke). “I had the perfect number (234 yards, about 212 meters)”, he assures with modesty, as if that was enough to leave it half a meter away. It was one of the five eagles seen all morning. Round without excessive suffering, playing very well from tee to green and with the only but, small, of not having been able to leave them a little closer to have more birdie options.
Tarrio also played very well from tee to green, especially in the first nine holes. Afterwards, he saved some very good pars like the 15th, but he also missed some clear birdie options like the 17th. The birdies on holes 16 and 18 were a reward for his patience.
Finally, Alex del Rey (PAR) may feel that a better result has slipped away. His driver worked very well, but he didn’t manage to get them close. However, the key to the round was the triple bogey on 14, after losing the tee shot in a bush. He recovered well with four clear birdie chances, of which he got two.
On the other hand, things were tough for Nacho Elvira (+3) and Adrián Otaegui (+3).
