His picture is still on the wall of champions in the press building at Augusta National, sandwiched between Trevor Immelman and Phil Mickelson. His chair at the champion’s dinner Tuesday night was empty, though, and if there was an invite to play the Masters this year, no one saw it.
As the Masters unfolds this week, Angel Cabrera sits in an Argentine prison. He’s serving two years for domestic abuse, and there’s a chance he could face an even longer sentence.
The glory of 2009 never seemed so far away.
“A lot of kids grow up without a role model and make some bad decisions, their anger within them takes over,” said Charlie Epps, a Houston golf pro who has a father-son relationship with Cabrera. “But it doesn’t justify doing the wrong thing.”
Cabrera was an unlikely champion to begin with, a street urchin who grew up without parents and never had a formal education. A huge crowd greeted him when he flew home after winning the 2007 U.S. Open and there was a parade in his honor.
