1 week Ago By Kevin Garside
AUGUSTA — You can spot that gait at a thousand paces, a flat-footed loop as if walking the streets looking for scraps. That is how Angel Cabrera lived much of his early life in Argentina, the son of a broken home, rehoused with grandma at four, caddying at ten, cohabiting with a 30-year-old mother of four at 16. Cabrera didn’t need two years behind bars to recognise the privilege that is walking around Augusta National, described by Rory McIlroy as the prettiest garden in the world.
Cabrera was out early on the second day of practice, the first to tee off before the patrons had taken their places behind the greens or besides the fairways. Whether avoiding unwanted attention or keen for practice at a course he last saw in 2019, we could not know. Clearly absence has not harmed his ball-striking.
From that crouched, bear-like stance, he gives the ball a fearsome clump. He does, however, look older than his 55 years, those early privations in Cordoba and the prison experience leaving an indelible imprint. Golf, particularly Augusta, is a forgiving space.
Tiger Woods recovered from the purdah of adultery and a very public dressing-down from chairman Billy Payne, to melt hearts with his last and 15th major victory here in 2019. And only Monday was he eulogised in saintly terms by Payne’s successor Fred Ridley following joint ventures between Augusta and Woods that will yield a new centre for education in the city via the Tiger Woods Foundation and an augmented municipal golf course designed by the five-time Masters champion.if(window.
adverts) { window.adverts.addToArray({"pos": "inread-hb-ros-inews"}); }Cheating on his wife was hardly trivial, however, infidelity is a lesser crime than the abuse for which Cabrera was convicted in 2021.
Woods did not raise a hand against Elin Nordegren, unlike the 2009 Master champion, who served 30 months, first in Brazil and then Argentina, for assaults against two women.Cabrera was released in 2023 and though he could not obtain a visa in time to compete here last year, received the backing of Ridley, who hailed him as ‘one of our great champions’ and said he was welcome to return.The Masters has welcomed Cabrera back with open arms (Photo: Reuters)Adam Scott, also a former winner here in 2013, and a President’s Cup team-mate, was equally welcoming.
“I’m thrilled he’s going to be back joining us this year. I can’t wait to see him. It’s a happy thing for me,” he said.
Ben Crenshaw, Masters champion in 1984 and 1995, said: “I tell you what, I’m excited to see Angel. The focus of the dinner will be on Scottie [Scheffler, last year’s winner], but it’ll be great to have Angel back.”In some parts of the clubhouse, then, it’s like the abuse never happened.
There is no defence for the crimes committed. One ex-partner, Cecelia Torres Mana, has spoken of how she was “physically, psychologically, and sexually abused” during their time together. After initially failing to answer justice, missing a court date to contest a tournament, Cabrera admitted his guilt and professed his remorse.
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addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l1"}); }This brings us to the heart of the tension. Having met the conditions of a civil society, serving his time, declaring his repentance and pledging to be a better man, should we not all embrace the return of El Pato, affectionately named for the manner of his flat-footed stride that evokes a duck’s waddle?This would appear to be the position of Ridley, himself a lawyer and a morally upstanding member of the Augusta community. There is also the matter of Cabrera’s upbringing.
He would not be the first brutalised child to grow up a brute. For a kid like Cabrera, formal schooling was not a priority, and in the absence of parental guidance, he became a law unto himself.“I am repentant and embarrassed.
I made serious mistakes. I refused to listen to anyone and did what I wanted, how I wanted and when I wanted,” Cabrera said in an interview with The Daily Mail in which his manager Manuel Tagle served as an interpreter. “That was wrong.
I ask Micaela for forgiveness. I ask Cecilia for forgiveness [the former girlfriend he assaulted]. They had the bad luck of crossing paths with me when I was at my worst.
I wasn’t the devil, but I did bad things.”#color-context-related-article-3624041 {--inews-color-primary: #8BC419;--inews-color-secondary: #F6FBED;--inews-color-tertiary: #8BC419;} Read Next square GOLF .inews__post__label__sports-analysis{background-color: #8bc419;color: #ffffff;}Sport AnalysisMy five tips to win the Masters 2025 - including two double major championsRead MoreCabrera won for the first time since his release from prison at a PGA Champions Tour event on Sunday and spoke about the emotion he felt.
On my first visit to the Masters in 2009, I walked out of the media centre, which in those days was adjacent to the first fairway, to observe the unmistakable stride of Cabrera ploughing alone up the steep incline towards his ball.I never imagined I would be looking at the winner. Sixteen years on, winning or losing seems the least of it.
By the sixth green the patrons had started to gather and the first group of photographers had caught up with him. They were not training their lenses on Jhonattan Vegas, who was sharing the practice round with him. His appearance here has clearly split opinion.
Women’s groups have voiced their anger over the ability of a man to hit a ball holding more significance in golf than a past hitting women. Cabrera can not undo his past, but he can move on. Cecilia Torres Mana cannot.
“I am still afraid,” she said in a first-person piece that appeared on the Orato World website when Cabrera was still in jail. “I cannot be completely free or calm, knowing what kind of person he is and the threats he made. I believe my family and I are still at risk.
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