1. Rafa Cabrera Bello
Rafael Cabrera-Bello is playing in The Masters for the first time this year, despite the Spaniard being 31 years old. In fact, RCB just qualified for The Masters at the buzzer as the European Tour regular did so by sneaking into the top-50 rankings in the world to qualify to play at Augusta. However, he’s a guy that came out of nowhere in the WGC-Dell Match Play recently as he finished third in a stacked field that included Rory McIlroy and 62 other players considered to be some of the best in the world.
There’s obviously a lot not working in favor of Cabrear-Bello in The Masters considering that this is his first time out at Augusta and the fact that he doesn’t play on the PGA Tour all that often to begin with. Moreover, this isn’t a Match Play tournament and the stakes being higher might prove to be too much for RCB this weekend.
While all of that is true, this is a guy who has been around the block on the European Tour and has shown that he can play exceptionally well at times. If he’s able to ride what he did in that Match Play tournament into this weekend, Rafa could be in spot not may people at all expect him to be: in contention.