His prison days behind him, Angel Cabrera steps back into the Masters
AUGUSTA, Ga. — He earned a green jacket. Now, Angel Cabrera has something no less important in a life of success and failure: a second chance. Or, since Cabrera was, and is, a golfer, maybe we should call it a mulligan — the links term for an unpenalized do-over.
Cabrera was in the field for the Masters, which began Thursday — an achievement in itself, considering all he has been through, largely due to his troubles off the course.
He served 30 months in prison in his home nation, Argentina, after conviction for domestic violence. Although some women’s organizations had protested his return, Cabrera, now 55, is able to return to the sport that lifted him from the bottom of life to the top.
“Life has given me another opportunity. I got to take advantage of that,” said Cabrera. “And I want to do the right things in this second opportunity.”
That Cabrera even became a golfer was against the odds. His parents separated when he was 4, and he was left in the care of his paternal grandmother. He had no formal schooling and found work as a caddie at age 10.
He learned the game after learning the proper way to carry clubs for others. With natural athletic talent, he quickly rose through the ranks, winning the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont — where the tournament returns this year — and then capturing the 2009 Masters.
But his personal life hardly was as rewarding. He was accused and convicted of harassing his former partner and the mother of his children. After his release from prison, Cabrera began practicing once more, and last weekend he won the James Hardy Invitational, a non PGA tour event, in Boca Raton, Florida.
This will be his first Masters since 2019, and because of the complaints of some women’s groups, Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley was asked during Wednesday’s press conference what he thought of the situation.
“We certainly abhor domestic violence of any type,” said Ridley. “As it relates to Angel, Angel has served the sentence that was prescribed by the Argentine courts, and he is the past champion, and so he was invited.
Golfers, among athletes, are a particularly close group. In an individual sport, they turn to each other for support. They view Cabrera as their long-time fellow competitor. Gary Player, winner of each of the four majors, remained a friend and supporter of Cabrera.
“The only one I’ve always been in contact with is Gary Player,” Cabrera said of the famed South African, who is now 89. “He wanted to give advice that things were going to happen and things would get better, and that’s what’s happened.”