Ángel Cabrera

Ángel Leopoldo Cabrera (born 12 September 1969) is an Argentine professional golfer who has played on both the European Tour and PGA Tour.

He is known affectionately as "El Pato" in Spanish ("The Duck") for his waddling gait.

On his fourth trip in 1995, made with Molina's financial assistance, he qualified for membership of the European Tour in 1996.

Cabrera retained his card comfortably in his first three seasons and improved substantially to tenth on the Order of Merit in 1999.

Cabrera's first European Tour win was the 2001 Argentine Open, which was sanctioned by the European Tour on a one-time basis that year.

He has since finished in the top 15 of the Order of Merit on seven occasions, with a best placing of fifth in 2005.

In 2005, he won the BMW Championship, the most prestigious event on the European Tour outside the majors and the World Golf Championships.

However, it was only his third European Tour win, a tally which was perhaps disappointing given his consistent form on the tour.

At that point, Cabrera had also won seven non-European Tour events in Latin America, where the standard of play is much lower than on the European Tour.

Cabrera featured a highest of 9th in the Official World Golf Ranking on 2 October 2005.

Cabrera earned enough money ($623,504) on the PGA Tour in 2006 playing as a non-member to earn a tour card for 2007.

He is a two-time major champion, with wins at the U.S. Open in 2007 and the Masters in 2009; he was the first Argentine and South American to win either.

He has played almost full-time in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

Cabrera won his first major championship at the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont near Pittsburgh.

He finished the tournament at 5-over, topping runners-up Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk by one stroke.

Cabrera entered the third round as the leader at even par, after finishing the first round at 1-under, and shooting 1-over on the second day.

He struggled during the third round, finishing 6 strokes over par, putting him 4 strokes behind Aaron Baddeley and two behind Woods.

His son Federico became a professional golfer in 2008 and entered the PGA Tour's qualifying school in 2011, but was eliminated in the second stage.

He was the top-ranked Latin American player for a number of years before the emerging pair of Andrés Romero and Camilo Villegas won PGA Tour tournaments in 2008.

In 2009, Cabrera announced partnership with Gary Player Design to collaborate on a golf course design business with a focus in Latin America.

His other son, Ángel, became a professional in 2012 and joined the Canadian Tour.

The elder Ángel and his sons also compete on PGA Tour Latinoamérica.

In January 2021, Cabrera was arrested in Rio de Janeiro as a result of Interpol issuing a red notice due to him having left Argentina without authorization following the start of a trial where he was facing a number of criminal charges, including assault, theft and illegal intimidation.

He remained in a Brazilian prison until June 2021, when his extradition to Argentina was completed.

In July 2021, he was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison.

In November 2022, he was convicted of a second assault and sentenced to an additional two years and four months in prison.

He was released on 4 August 2023.

Cabrera was cleared to play in PGA Tour-sanctioned events in December 2023.

Cabrera turned professional at age twenty and his first three visits to the European Tour Qualifying School were unsuccessful.

He also lost in a sudden death playoff at the Masters in 2013.

Born in Córdoba, Argentina, Cabrera's father, Miguel, was a handyman, and his mother worked as a maid.

He was three or four when his parents split up and was left in the care of his paternal grandmother.

Cabrera stayed with her until he was 16, when he moved in a few feet away, to the house of Silvia, twelve years his senior, and a mother of four boys.

They had a son, Federico, followed by another, Ángel.

When Cabrera was 10, he became a caddy at the Córdoba Country Club, which he says almost became his home.

He learned golf playing against other caddies for money.

His fierce determination and powerful swing soon caught the eye of members, one of whom, Juan Cruz Molina, a local real estate magnate, bought him his first set of clubs when he was 16.

With his stocky figure and habit of smoking at every hole, Cabrera cut a distinctive figure on the course.

He is also acknowledged as having one of the biggest swings in the game.

This coincides with golf, the Olympics and Brazil coming together in 2016.