Does Angel Cabrera belong to this master? Not everyone is convinced

Augusta, ga. – In one afternoon Tuesday Tuesday in Bluebird Augusta National55-year-old angel The balls were falling at the right end of the range of brilliance practice in preparation for its 21st masters, but first since 2019. Gone were the Ping and South African logos he wore in his hat and shirt, namely, when he won here in 2009, replaced by his interconnect, AC. Care fans of golf can recognize Cabrera in this setting, but maybe not if they walked it on the street. It is wider about the middle than it was when IMMELMAN Trevor slipped the green jacket on the shoulder. Bagsantas under his eyes have grown heavier, and his master cut beard is mostly gray.

Cabrera’s swing missing some of the pops you can remember from when he defeated Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell on a play off to become the first South American masters champion, but you do not need to see that groove drivers for a long time to show that he can still golf his ball. He testified so much last week When he shot 11 under At a 54 PGA Tour Champions event event in South Florida to win with two over KJ Choi.

This victory attracted a lot of attention because it was the first Cabrera since it was released by a Argentine prison in March 2023. During the previous 30 months, Cabrera had served time in three different prisons on various charges, including domestic violence charges presented by two ex -girlfriends; On one occasion, Cabrera agreed to induce a cellphone in his partner’s head.

Cabrera’s prison time began in Rio de Janeiro in early 2021, where for five months he was waiting for a court date in his East Argentina. He had a mobile friend in Rio but not much more: four square meters of living space, as he remembered it, with a cement mattress and cloth pieces for the bed. In June 2021, he was extradited to his homeland, where he was sentenced and imprisoned. “It was a relatively good environment,” Cabrera told Daily mail last month. “It wasn’t a dangerous.” He said he practiced his swing with a broom handle and read golf magazines to stay in touch with the game. “I thought of Augusta,” he said COMMUNICATIONS“But I was away.”

On Tuesday, Cabrera was back.

Augusta’s national range was wonderful under the cloudless sky, though not around Cabrera and his son Angel Jr., who is in the bag this week. There were two cheap bays on the left and three to their right. As Elder Cabrera began to overturn his session, the 2003 masters champion Mike Weir approached, said hello and raised two bays down. Two minutes later, José María Olazábal, Lorenzo Gagli, walked into Cabreras and grabbed his hands with both. When Cabrera had finished practicing and was waiting for his journey to the verse, Justin Rose withdrew after him, squeezed his shoulder and congratulated him on his victory in Florida. The scene represented what Cabrera said on Tuesday is one of the things he has lost the most to play competitive golf: friendship, or, as he said, “Golf family”.

Not everyone, however, welcomed Cabrera again to the masters with open wings.

Some columnists have criticized his presence (including here, here AND here); Social media has not been missing for similar taking; and Jamie Klingler, co -founder of the Social Justice Organization, recover these roads, told the BBC“It looks as long as male athletes can shine in hitting a ball. We justify the same men who hit women.”

Maybe you feel the same way. Maybe you believe that Cabrera has no business to turn into such a prestigious golf tournament, let alone one who has put her support after the game of women in recent years with the presentation of Augusta’s national amateur. Cabrera, some noticed, was also welcomed again at the same club, where 15 years ago, the then club leader Billy Payne publicly rebuked Tiger Woods for not committing a crime, but serial infidelity. “It is simply not the degree of his behavior that is so wild here,” Payne said. “Well the fact that he disappointed all of us, and most importantly, our children and our grandchildren. Our hero does not adhere to the expectations of the role model we saw for our children.” Maybe you think those same words should be applied to Cabrera.

Or maybe you don’t feel like that.

Maybe you think justice has served him, Cabrera paid his repentance and now he deserves a second chance, both in life and in Golf. You can also feel that it is not the place of Augusta National to decide whether Cabrera – which is in the field through the status of its past sample – is unworthy or inappropriate to compete and, despite its crimes, is just as right for its place in the field, to say, Fred couples or Rory Mcilroy.

Or maybe you are not yet sure how you feel.

Cabrera knows that. After playing a round of Tuesday practice with Jhhonatan Vegas, Cabrera met with reporters in the usual press area behind the club. While he was in other interviews, he was remorseful if not wide. Five questions in, Cabrera asked, “Waledd what will you tell people who probably think you don’t have to be here?”

“I respect their opinion, and everyone has their own opinion and I respect it,” he said.

Two questions later: “Personally, what have you done in the past, do you think you belong here?”

“I won the masters,” Cabrera replied. “Why not?”

The most difficult questions will surely come on Wednesday – if not for Cabrera, then for National Mayor Augusta Fred RidleyWhich is scheduled to meet with the media at 11am Ridley, a trade lawyer, will be prepared. His answers will be straightforward but measured. A year ago, when asked about the status of Cabrera then, Ridley said: “He is currently unable to enter the United States. He has no visa, and I know that process is working. We probably wish him the best fate with this, and we will definitely welcome him if he is able to direct those legal matters.” On Wednesday, Ridley will do more than he will only do it: welcome the 2009 master champion again without getting into the specifics if the club withdrew his decision to give him an initial time.

When he spoke with reporters through a translator on Tuesday afternoon, Cabrera said so far this week he had not had much chance of catching friends and peers. He said the only player with whom he has had any contact in recent years is the triple winner of the Masters Gary Player, who wrote Cabrera a letter when he was in prison. “He wanted to give me advice that things would happen and things would improve,” Cabrera said.

Tuesday evening, carabrera saw many more popular faces, in Champions on the second floor of Augusta National Club. At the Scottie Scheffler menu was the burning of Texas style, a cowboy with fiery wood Ribeye and the blackened red fish. Good wine and cold beer flowed. The stories were told and the laughter split. In one group Released from the club, Cabrera, in his green jacket and a yellow tie, joined Weir and the winner of 2021, Hideki Matsuyama.

Cabrera was asked on Tuesday afternoon about any regret he houses.

“Of course I’m sorry for the things that happened and you teach them,” he said. “But at the same time they are in the past and we have to look forward to what is coming.”