Angel Cabrera: “I felt reborn”

The Argentine returned to professional Golf this year, but has not spoken much publicly after spending two and a half years in prison. He spoke before playing the PGA Tour Champions cards next week.

Since he was released from prison after spending 30 months there for domestic violence, the former winner of the Masters and of l’US Open joined the PGA Tour Champions where he played 12 tournaments this season, with a fourth place in the SAS Championship in October. On the occasion of Paul Lawrie Match Playin June, he even won his first professional victory in four years on the Legends Tour.

Golf for support

Golf played an important role during his imprisonment asAngel Cabrera feared that one day he would not be able to play again, or that his level would suffer: “My friends who visited me gave me a lot of golf magazines, and it was very therapeutic because I remembered a lot of things and how to improve the game”he says in an interview published by Golf week. In particular his victory at Masterswhich he still hopes to participate in again.

His return was also made easier by the support of other players, Ernie Els et Gary Player for example having sent him letters while he was in prison.

I want to win every tournament I play

Even if he believes that he has not regained his level, and in particular his short game, “El Pato” declared that he had “felt reborn” by resuming competition, and that he still had the ambition to “win every tournament I play” – including major tournaments.

Angel Cabrera took advantage of his incarceration to stop drinking and even resume his studies, which he had stopped in sixth grade. He says he learned a lot in prison: “I realized that life can be very simple and you can live without anything you think you need, like a phone, money or anything else,” he explains.

Remarried and father of a young child, the Argentinian is trying to be a better person and repair the mistakes he made: “I have some gray areas, but at the end of the day, I am a good man and always will be”…

Photo: Golf Planète