My final round today saw me hand in a scorecard of three over par 74 for a four round score of three over par 287, in Rome for the €3 million DS Automobiles Italian Open at Marco Simone GC, on the DP World Tour.
I was very comfortable and confident after my front nine of 34, with eight pars and a birdie on hole 6. All was on track, the sun was shining and all was looking good with the world and Team Cabrera Bello.
My game came off the rails on hole 11, where I had a four hole run of double – birdie – bogey and triple: 6-4-4-7. It reads like my mobile telephone number in Dubai!
I then played the last four holes with three pars and my final and 17th birdie of the week on the par five 626 yards 72nd hole, the 2nd easiest hole of the week, to be back in 40 blows.
As I post this Daily Diary I am lying in tied 62nd place.
Last nine
Looking up at the top of the leaderboard in the Recorder’s Hut on finishing my round, Robert McIntyre has just opened up with a six birdie front nine of 29, to be leading and up there along with Victor Perez, Matt Fitzpatrick, Aaron Rai, as well as Rory McIlroy who is always a threat and can never be ignored.
The tournament will not be finished for a couple of hours with nine holes still to be played by the final groups, it just needs a player to have a decent last nine holes and they will take the trophy, the title and the money.
It all sounds so easy!
I will now quickly forget about this week and prepare for my next event.
That is what we all have to do as Pros.
My schedule for the rest of the season sees my next tournament on the DP World Tour at the $5 million Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.
I will be partnering with Irish businessman and horse and golf enthusiast in this Pro-Am format Dermot Desmond, which will be fun and a change of format.
I will then be defending my Spanish Open title at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid and then the following week to the Andalucia Masters at Valderrama.
It will be nice to play a couple of weeks in my homeland of Spain and get some support from the Spanish golf fans.
60 days
Then I will sit down with my Dubai based manager and good friend Richard Rayment to review my season so far and plan the next few months of 2022 and the start of 2023.
It will not be too long, in fact 60 days, until I am back home in Dubai for the first round of the DP World Tour Championship. I look forward to seeing all my Dubai supporters soon, especially my friends, Stuart McMurdo, Director of Sport and the team at JA Hotels and Resorts, who I represent on my sleeve all over the world.
Thanks for all your support and best wishes this week – I have enjoyed guest writing my Gulf News Daily Diary from Rome on the DP World Tour.
- Rafa, 38 years-old, is a Dubai Golden VISA Awardee, based in Dubai who has won four times on the DP World Tour, including the 2012 Dubai Desert Classic. Rafa is a Global Ambassador of JA Resorts & Hotels.
