Cabrera Bello wins Spanish duel in Madrid

Rafa Cabrera Bello defeated fellow Spaniard Adri Arnaus in a play-off to end his four year wait for a European Tour victory and complete the set of Spanish national championships at the 2021 ACCIONA Open de España presented by Madrid.

The 2016 Ryder Cup star entered the final day with a two shot lead but had lost it by the second tee and was two behind Arnaus at the turn after a battling front nine.
A hat-trick of birdies from the 13th had him back in a share of the lead at nineteen-under and he produced a stunning up-and-down from the sand on the last after a ragged tee shot to save his par and take the contest to extra holes after a 69.

Both men sent their tee shots left on the first trip back up the 18th but Cabrera Bello had the better lie and put his approach to 11 feet to seal a birdie and a fourth European Tour title.
"I'm very, very happy. I knew it was going to be a really hard battle today and I don't think I need to say that I didn't get off to the ideal start," said Cabrera Bello.
"I've been believing in myself, I've had amazing support all this week rooting for me ever since the first minute and I was just hanging in there, I knew I'd have an opportunity and I'm glad that luck swung my way."

Arnaus carded a closing 67 but was left to reflect on a fourth runner up finish in 72 European Tour starts.
Scot Grant Forrest came home in 28 to finish two shots out of the play-off at seventeen-under alongside Frenchman Julien Guerrier and India's Shubhankar Sharma.
Dutchman Wil Besseling, South African Wilco Nienaber and England's Jack Senior were at 16 under, a shot clear of England's Richard Bland, Italian Renato Paratore and Scot Marc Warren.