DISGRACED TWO-TIME MAJOR CHAMPION TO RETURN TO PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS IN FEBRUARY
DISGRACED TWO-TIME MAJOR CHAMPION TO RETURN TO PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS IN FEBRUARY
Former Masters and US Open champion Angel Cabrera will return to the PGA Tour Champions at the Hassan II Trophy in February 2024.
Disgraced two-time major champion Angel Cabrera will return to competitive action at the PGA Tour Champions next month, it has been confirmed by Golfweek.
Cabrera, 54, was released from prison on 4 August after he spent more than two years in custody for domestic violence offences.
The golfer, nicknamed El Pato (The Duck) was convicted of offences relating to two former girlfriends.
After being released, he spoke of his dream of returning to the PGA Tour Champions.
That dream has now been made true.
According to Golfweek, the former Masters and US Open champion will tee it up at the Hassan II Trophy from 22-24 February at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Morocco.
Cabrera is still waiting to obtain a visa to travel in the United States, but he does not require a visa to travel to Northern Africa.
He last played in a tournament on the PGA Tour Champions back in 2020.
PGA Tour Champions President Miller Brady told Golfweek that Cabrera’s return is similar to that of Jim Thorpe who went to prison for a year, albeit for tax evasion, back in 2010. Thorpe then returned to action in 2011.
Brady believes Cabrera’s peers on the PGA Tour Champions may “forgive” him, but he is unsure whether their spouses will.
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Brady told Golfweek:
“He’s been gone for three years and served time in jail and had time for personal reflection. It’s a bit like Jim Thorpe, who spent time in jail (for tax evasion) and was welcomed back. It’s a little different. I don’t know if he can travel in the United States because he needs a visa. I think guys forgive. I’m not sure if spouses will forgive, that’s the bigger question. But he has the right to play.”
One visa Cabrera will get hold of is the Visa Argentina Open at Olivos Golf Club, which takes place a week after the Hassan II.
That tournament is being staged on the lower-tier Korn Ferry Tour for the first time, and Cabrera is in the field.
On top of those two events, Cabrera has also been handed an exemption to play in the Insperity Invitational in Houston in May on the PGA Tour Champions.
He will need to have obtained his visa by then in order to travel to the tournament.
Cabrera recently completed his first 72-hole tournament since his prison release, posting a T10 at the Abierto del Litoral.
He recently stated his desire to return to Augusta National to play the 2024 Masters.
“It would be a great privilege to return and to attend the Champions Dinner with so many of the golf world’s greatest players,” Cabrera said last year.
But Bob Harig has confirmed today that Cabrera is not in the updated Masters field.
Cabrera is currently listed as a “past champion not playing” at the 2024 Masters.
He last played in The Masters in 2018 when he missed the cut for a second year in a row.
Masters updated its field list. The 79 so far does not include past champion Angel Cabrera who is having visa issues. He was released from prison last year after serving time for gender abuse https://t.co/y6WsDzfb1d via @SInow
Cabrera won his first major at the 2007 US Open and he then added a second with victory at the 2009 Masters.
Two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer confirmed he will compete in his final Masters this April.
It will mark Langer’s 41st appearance in The Masters.
