Cabrera Bello pips Shinkwin in play-off for £900k payday

Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello played “some of the best golf of my life” to win the £5.5 million Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open champion after a dramatic finish at Dundonald Links.

The 33-year-old secured a first prize of just under £900,000 in a suddendeath play-off after Englishman Callum Shinkwin had come within an inch of claiming a shock victory at the 72nd hole.

Shinkwin, the world No 405, missed from five feet for par after coming to the last with a one-shot lead before losing out to a birdie from Cabrera Bello after he’d earlier closed with a course-record 64.

“I played some of the best golf of my life,” said Cabrera Bello, whose success will propel him into the world’s top 20.

“I had an unbelievable Sunday and I was pleased that it worked out my way. Hitting a 3-wood from 275 yards to ten feet in the play-off was one of the best shots of my life.”

Shinkwin earned consolation in the form of a pay-day worth close to £600,000, as well as a spot in the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale along with Frenchman Matthieu Pavon and Andrew Dodt of Australia.

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