AUGUSTA, Ga. — If Angel Cabrera is aware of anyone not happy about him playing in this week’s Masters based on the multiple convictions for assault on ex-girlfriends, you wouldn’t know it.
Cabrera, who was imprisoned 30 months in Brazil and Argentina before being released in 2023, was asked Tuesday after a practice round, based on what he’d done, why he “deserved” to be in Augusta this week.
“I won the Masters,” he said, referring to his 2009 victory. “Why not?”
Cabrera, who won the 2009 Masters, attended the annual Champions Dinner with his fellow past champions Tuesday night.
“Life has given me another opportunity,” he said. “I’ve got to take advantage of that and do the right things in this second opportunity. Obviously, I regret things that happened, and you learn from them.”
Spanish amateur Jose Luis Ballester, in the Masters field this week as the U.S. Amateur winner, had the experience of a lifetime Tuesday, playing a practice round with not only three fellow Spaniards, but three former Masters champions. He teed it up with Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia and José Maria Olazábal.
“It was amazing,” Ballester said. “Four green jackets in that group, so it was very special, all the knowledge they shared was meaningful. I just tried to keep my ears open.”
Rahm, the 2023 Master champion, raved about the 20-year-old Ballester.
“Hard to describe his game anywhere but extremely powerful,” Rahm said. “You’ve got a player that has 190 [mph] ball speed when he rolls out of bed in the morning. With two parents that are Olympians, he’s got all the athletic genes that he needs to succeed in the game and a lot of talent. He’s a very, very good player. He’s got plenty of game, plenty of talent and plenty of distance to be in this game for a very long time.
“He’s a wonderful man. He’s extremely kind, very empathetic, which is really interesting to see for a 20-year-old in college.”
Rory McIlroy, who’s endured his share of heartbreak at big tournaments (like the Masters), said Tuesday that having his young daughter Poppy as part of his team “definitely makes the lows a little easier to take.”
When he won the Players Championship last month, he said it “was the first time that she sort of realized what I did, which was really cool … also a little scary at the same time.
“It’s amazing that I can share these things with her and with [wife] Erica. The day after the Players, [Poppy] went into school and there was a couple of kids that had said some stuff to her, and she came home to me that day and said, ‘Daddy, are you famous?’
“I said, ‘It depends who you talk to.’ As everyone knows that’s had children, it’s an amazing addition to life, and it’s great that she’s here this week.”
