Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
IT’S A RAF BREAK ON SHINKWIN
SPAIN’S Rafael Cabrera Bello claimed a first victory since 2012 by beating Callum Shinkwin in a play-off after a dramatic finish to the Scottish Open.
Englishman Shinkwin (inset) had looked set for his maiden European Tour title and the first prize of £898,000, only to fluff his chip to the final hole and then leave a putt to win short from just four feet.
The pair returned to the 18th for sudden death and Cabrera Bello, whose closing 64 had set a new course record at Dundonald Links, produced a stunning approach to the par five from 275 yards to set up a two-putt birdie.
Shinkwin’s approach had finished in an almost identical place as it had on the 72nd hole and, after pitching over a bunker to seven feet, the 24-year-old again hit a tentative putt which came up short.
“Obviously I’m extremely happy,” said Cabrera Bello.
“I’ve won before and I have been up there so many, many times and things have not really worked out for myself. I was starting to feel a little pressure every time I was up there contending.
“Today I truly believed that it could be my day.
“I just tried to stay ‘one shot at a time’, just waiting for things to come to me.
“Winning again, it’s an unbelievable feeling. I think I was overdue. I’m very happy to have gotten that third win, finally.
“I feel that I played some of the best golf of my life.”
Shinkwin, who missed six cuts in a row earlier this season and was then disqualified from his next two events, said: “It’s been a very good week. I’ll be more than happy to finish second but the win was on my mind and it didn’t happen.
“Of course I was nervous but to be fair it was nothing like what everyone probably thinks. I hit a great second shot in (on the 72nd hole) and finished in a divot on a downslope above the bunker. I had no shot, really.
“But it’s all a learning curve and obviously if you win, you have to have luck on your side. It wasn’t there for me.”