History was made on Sunday at TPC Sawgrass in more ways than one. During the final round of the Players Championship, Rafa Cabrera-Bello played the last three holes in a combined eight strokes (par is 12), but that’s only part of the story. The Spaniard began the famous stretch by recording the 16th hole’s first ever albatross (double eagle, whatever) two on the par-5. It was so rare that it was only the third in Players Championship history.
.@RCabreraBello double-eagle was first-ever at 16 @theplayers. Hunter Mahan (No. 11) and Peter Lonard (No. 2) posted albatrosses in 2007.
— PGA TOUR Media (@PGATOURmedia) May 14, 2017
After a decent drive of 337 left him with 181-yards in, Cabrera-Bello’s approach shot took a fortunate kick off the backside of the bunker and tracked all the way before crashing into the flagstick and dropping into the hole for the unlikely deuce. While the shot was unbelievable, the celebration was almost more impressive. So much so that his iron ended up in the water, which he had to retrieve. It was a thing of beauty.
— Skratch (@Skratch) May 14, 2017
He then went on to stuff one inside six feet on the terrifying island green par-3 17th hole and drained the putt for birdie. It was the first ever eagle-birdie (2-2) combination on 16 and 17 in the history of TPC Sawgrass. Then on the difficult par-4 18th, he proved he was human and put his drive into the water. After a drop, he left his approach short of the green, Cabrera-Bello went on to hole this 37-footer for par to finish in absurd 2-2-4.
The finish at @THEPLAYERSChamp NEVER lets us down.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/FuJUdB0aPm
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 14, 2017
The finish was good enough to get him into a tie for fourth at six-under. Even though he didn’t win, it was a stretch of golf we won’t soon forget.
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