AUGUSTA, Ga. — Angel Cabrera said he understands if there are people who don’t think he should be playing in this week’s Masters after he was imprisoned for assaulting and threatening two of his ex-girlfriends.
But Cabrera, the 2009 Masters champion, said he deserves to be in the field as a former winner of a green jacket who thus has a lifetime exemption into the tournament.
“I won the Masters, why not?” Cabrera said through an interpreter Tuesday after playing a practice round at Augusta National Golf Club.
Asked what he would say to people who think he shouldn’t be playing in the Masters, Cabrera said, “I respect their opinion, and everybody has their own opinion.”
Cabrera, 55, hasn’t played in the Masters since missing the cut in 2019. He wanted to play in the tournament last year, but had visa problems and couldn’t travel to the U.S.
Cabrera, from Argentina, was sentenced in July 2021 to two years in prison for threats and harassment of Cecilia Torres Mana, his partner between 2016 and 2018. In November 2022, he was also on trial for threats and harassment against Micaela Escudero, another of his ex-girlfriends. After Cabrera pleaded guilty, the court made the two sentences concurrent and gave him three years and 10 months in prison.
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He was released on parole in August 2023 and cleared to return to the PGA Tour Champions later that year.
“There was a stage in my life of four, five years, that they weren’t the right things I should have done,” Cabrera said. “Before that I was OK, so I just have to keep doing what I know I can do right.”
In a lengthy interview with Golf Digest in the months after he was released on parole, Cabrera said he was embarrassed by his behavior and asked his former partners for forgiveness.
“I am repentant and embarrassed,” Cabrera said. “I made serious mistakes. I refused to listen to anyone and did what I wanted, how I wanted and when I wanted. That was wrong. I ask Micaela for forgiveness. I ask Cecilia for forgiveness. They had the bad luck of crossing paths with me when I was at my worst. I wasn’t the devil, but I did bad things.”
Cabrera told Golf Digest that he underwent treatment for alcohol addiction, including taking daily pills to make him sick if he drinks. He said he intends to stay sober for the remainder of his life.
On Tuesday, Cabrera said life has given him a second chance.
“I got to take advantage of that, and I want to do the right things in this second opportunity,” he said.
On Sunday, Cabrera captured the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational at the Old Course at Broken Sound Club in Boca Raton, Florida, his first victory on the PGA Tour Champions circuit.
Cabrera was scheduled to attend the annual Champions Dinner at Augusta National Golf Club on Tuesday night.
Adam Scott, who defeated Cabrera in a playoff to win the 2013 Masters, said he was looking forward to seeing him.
“I can’t wait to see him,” Scott told The Associated Press on Sunday. “It’s a happy thing for me. We’ve got a fairly long history. I first met him on the European Tour before we both were on the PGA Tour. We’ve played Presidents Cups, we’ve been partners.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
