Ten years ago, Angel Cabrera fought for his second Masters title in a sudden death playoff. This year, he traded the green jacket for prison smocks.
Former Masters champions receive a lifetime invitation to the first major of the year, but it’s impossible for the 2009 winner to stroll down Magnolia Lane from his cell in an Argentine prison dubbed Hell’s Prison.
Not only was Cabrera’s name on the Past Champions Not Playing list for the 87th edition of the Masters, he didn’t even make the invite list.
With the Masters well underway, Cabrera is nowhere near Augusta National. In fact, he’s sitting in a jail cell 4,000 miles away south of Cordoba, Argentina’s second largest city.
With his overhanging stomach and huffing and puffing, Cabrera was an unlikely Masters champion, winning a three-way playoff in 2009 over Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell.
Angel Cabrera won The Masters in 2009 but is a former champion not making it this year
But it wasn’t his first big win. Cabrera, affectionately nicknamed El Pato – the duck – for his waddling gait and stocky build, beat none other than Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk by a stroke to claim victory at the 2007 US Open in Oakmont.
He came from a humble background, his father was a craftsman and his mother a maid, and was brought up by his grandmother from the age of four.
At the age of 10 he became a caddie at the Cordoba Country Club and learned to play golf, playing around with the other caddies to make money.
He got his first set of racquets when he was 16 after being noticed by a local real estate magnate.
The Argentine turned pro in 1989 but didn’t make it onto the European Tour until 1996, on his fourth attempt at qualifying.
As he moved around the pitch, a puff of smoke often trailed behind him as Cabrera was rarely seen without a cigarette in hand, known to be smoking at every hole.
He won the Argentine Open in 2001 and the BMW Championship in 2005, but his greatest triumphs would come in 2007 and 2009.
Discussing his win at Oakmont, Cabrera said: “Well, there are some players who have psychologists, some who have sports studies, I smoke.”
The Argentine claimed the Green Jacket in a three-man playoff at Augusta National
Cabrera won his first major in 2007, edging out Tiger Woods (R) and Jim Furyk (L) at the US Open
The 53-year-old is pictured with the US Open trophy after his one-shot win in Oakmont
In 2013, he nearly slipped into a second green jacket, eventually losing in a playoff to Australia’s Adam Scott.
His last win, however, came at the 2014 Greenbrier Classic and his performances have steadily declined.
But his fall from grace really took a hit in 2021 when his former girlfriend Cecilia Torres Mana made allegations of assault, intimidation and harming Cabrera.
Cabrera denied the allegations, but two women, his former wife Silva Rivadero and his former partner Micaela Escudero, also reportedly filed charges.
“I couldn’t go to the supermarket or the gym. Angel always believed that I would be with another man. He followed me and took my phone,” Torres Mana said in a self-penned report for Orato.
“He made me do very kinky things and hit me when I refused. When Angel was in a meeting with his friends, I had to be in the bedroom with no internet connection. It was very humbling.’
She further accused Cabrera of making her do “very kinky things” and said he hit her when she refused.
Torres Mana finally managed to escape from Cabrera during a trip to Houston. She claimed Cabrera locked her in a closet and took her phone and documents, but when he fell asleep she caught a flight back to Argentina, allegedly fearing his reprisals against her and her family.
The first charge was filed by Cecilia Torres Mana (left), before his ex-wife Silva Rivadero (right) and another woman subsequently filed charges of domestic violence
“Angel always said it would hurt his career if I reported him and told me about all the political connections he had. But one afternoon I plucked up the courage to report him anyway,” she wrote. “From that moment I saw a light at the end of the tunnel.”
The golfer is said to have traveled to the United States in July 2020 and played in five tournaments in August and September, apparently without obtaining permission from the Argentine authorities required by the investigation. Cabrera denied this.
“Angel often said that nobody could stop him,” Torres Mana wrote, “and if they tried to arrest him, he would not return to Argentina.”
The public prosecutor’s office in Córdoba then issued an international arrest warrant and he was on the run for months.
He was eventually arrested by the Brazilian federal police in January 2021 on an Interpol warrant and spent six months in a Brazilian prison before being extradited to his home country.
“He spent six months there,” Cabrera’s former swing coach Charlie Epps told Golfweek in 2021. “Bad place. He got beat up. They didn’t care that he was Angel Cabrera. I’ve had a lot of people come up to me that they could get him out for $100,000 or this and that.
After being extradited to Argentina in June 2021, he faced charges of assault, theft, illegal intimidation and repeated contempt for authorities.
His hometown of Villa Allende launched protests for his release, with his supporters pointing to his charitable giving as a testament to his character.
Cabrera is being held in custody following his extradition from Brazil to Argentina in June 2021
But they were in vain as Cabrera’s trial continued.
And what a test it was. Full of bizarre moments, Cabrera appeared to be trying to use his fame to his advantage.
He appeared in court wearing a Presidents Cup logo jacket after representing the international team in 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2013.
He also donned a variety of interesting face masks, with the trial taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the opening day of the trial, he wore a mask bearing the image of Eva Peron, who he said was “the first to fight for women’s rights.”
He was found guilty of assaulting Torres Mana during their time together from 2016 to 2018 and was serving a two-year sentence immediately after the verdict.
While he maintained his innocence throughout and beyond the trial, prosecutors indicated that Torres Mana was not his only victim.
“His situation is much more complex than this, he has other charges for which there are also arrest warrants,” said prosecutor Laura Battistelli at the time. “There are other victims.”
Last November, he was sentenced to an additional two years and four months for assaulting his other ex-partner, Escudero.
Cabrera is now an inmate of Argentina’s notorious Carcel de Bouwer, dubbed “El Penal del Infierno” – “The Prison of Hell” – home to rapists, killers and murderers.
The gang-ridden prison near Cordoba is notorious for overcrowding and the violence of inmates within its walls, where some of Argentina’s most dangerous criminals are held captive.
A 2018 UN report claimed that detainees in Bouwer reported “having their feet and/or hands tied or handcuffed for periods ranging from several hours to three days”.
The professional golfer holds his head in his hands as he stands trial in Argentina in 2021
Cabrera wore a Presidents Cup-branded jacket and face mask throughout the process
Cabrera isn’t the only famous Argentine sportsman to have ties to the prison, as former Manchester United and Manchester City soccer star Carlos Tevez made headlines for a visit in 2018.
Tevez’ brother Juan Alberto Martinez was sentenced to 16 years in Bouwer in 2010 after being convicted of armed robbery.
The former forward is said to have injured himself in a game with inmates while visiting his brother in 2018, reportedly leaving his team at the time, Boca Juniors, furious. Tevez denied that he sustained the injury during the prison kickabout, instead insisting it occurred at the gym.
Another former Boca Juniors star, Bebelo Reynoso, has ties to the jail after being held there for 10 days for beating and threatening a minor with a firearm.
The prison is divided into four different sections – or “modulos” – based on inmates with ties to rival gangs.
The Barras Bravas – or “Ultras” – follow two of Cordoba’s main football teams, Talleres and Belgrano, and the feud between the two sides is said to be so seditious that those with known ties to both are being severed.
It is not known what part Cabrera is being held in or how he spends his days, but he is reportedly only in contact with his son Angel Cabrera Jr., his attorney Carlos Hairabedian and his manager Manuel Tagle.
However, Cabrera doesn’t appear to have been traumatized by his time in prison, he even claimed it did him good after admitting he’s struggled with alcoholism over the years.
Soccer star Carlos Tevez (above) visited his brother Juan Alberto Martinez in prison
Cabrera’s son Angel Cabrera Jr. (pictured left after the duo won the 2017 PNC Championship) is one of three people his father reportedly has contact with while in prison
According to former swing coach Charlie Epps, Cabrera is planning a return to the golf course
During his second trial, Cabrera told the local press, “Many say prison is bad, but that’s not the case, prison has been good for me.”
However, according to former swing coach Epps, he is aiming for a return to the golf course.
Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Epps said the 53-year-old still harbors ambitions to return to professional golf.
“It’s been a tough road,” Epps said. “He was in prison in Brazil and then in Argentina. He weathered the storm and taught him some very important lessons. He admitted that.
‘He’ll probably come out sometime this summer and he’s already in a temporary home. He wants to continue his golf career, God willing. I always welcome him. We’re just waiting for him to come home.”
Cabrera is set to be released later this year, but whether the Force will allow him to walk the path to redemption down Magnolia Lane remains to be seen.