In this series, we've unearthed images from the RFEG's photographic archive, each one telling a beautiful golf story. The story of our golf. They are OUR CHAMPIONS.

📆 February 12, 2012.

⛳ Emirates Golf Club (Dubai, UAE).

▶Throughout their careers, great athletes have a handful of brilliant moments that remain etched in the memories of fans for years to come. They are few and far between, you could count them on one hand. Rafael Cabrera experienced one of them on February 12, 2012, when he won the Omega Dubai Desert Classic with remarkable brilliance. Neither Lee Westwood nor Rory McIlroy could overcome the Canary Islander.

▶The Spaniard carded an exceptional 68 to climb one place in the standings and reclaim the lead he held on the first day. He edged out Scotland's Stephen Gallacher and Lee Westwood by one stroke. One statistic perfectly illustrates Rafael Cabrera's phenomenal performance: he only made three bogeys in 72 holes.

However, the key to the islander's victory may have lay in his exceptional 63 strokes on the first day, one of his lowest rounds as a professional. That same consistency he displayed in Dubai has been a constant throughout his career and one of the keys to making a good living on a circuit as demanding as the PGA Tour.

This was his second European Tour victory, following his win in Austria in 2009. It took five years for his third, but it was well worth the wait. He won the 2017 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open with a fantastic performance against golfers like Matt Kuchar.

▶Before starting that brilliant professional career, punctuated by another couple of victories on the Challenge Tour, Rafa was Spanish Champion in the Benjamin category in 1994, Alevín in 1996, Infantil in 1998, Cadete in 2000, Sub 18 in 2011 and Junior in 2004. All this makes him one of OUR CHAMPIONS.