Jailed Masters champion speaks for first time | Golf News

Angel Cabrera is competing this week at the Senior PGA Championship, just days after a disappointing efficiency at Augusta National during the 2026 Masters event.

The Argentine, who claimed the Masters title back in 2009, completed with a 16-over rating, inserting second-to-last in the sector. After taking pictures a 79 on the opening day at Augusta, he adopted it up with an equally dismal 9-over spherical. Earlier in the week, he attended Rory McIlroy’s Champions Dinner and has revealed how he was handled.

Last yr, Cabrera drew appreciable consideration as it marked his first Masters look since serving a prison sentence for assaulting two ex-girlfriends. This time around, however, coverage of Cabrera was far more subdued, as he averted all media interactions throughout Masters week, including declining to communicate to the event’s in-house channels at the driving vary. Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy has already seen a large chunk of his Masters prize money disappear from successful the event.

Despite his media silence at the Masters, Cabrera opened up to reporters at Concession Golf Club forward of the Senior PGA Championship, which acquired underway on Thursday.

The 56-year-old gave transient responses to questions about both the Masters and the week forward, as he appears to defend the title he captured last yr.

“Augusta is over, so I’m just focused on this. Hope to have a great week,” said Cabrera when requested about his preparations for the competitors at Concession. “It’s a very tough course with the first shot from the tee and small greens. You have to be very cautious when you’re striking to the green … they [the greens] are fast, and we have to locate the ball very well, because they have a lot of movement and they are very fast.”

When questioned about whether or not his follow and play at Augusta, despite being subpar, would benefit him at Concession, he responded, “There’s two different golf courses, so I’m just focused on what I have to do now. The ball striking is good, so I’m feeling well.”

In July 2021, Cabrera obtained a two-year prison sentence for harassing his accomplice, Cecilia Torres Mana, with whom he was concerned between 2016 and 2018. Subsequently, in November 2022, he confronted trial for harassing another former girlfriend, Micaela Escudero.

Following Cabrera’s guilty plea, the court ordered the 2 sentences to run concurrently, culminating in a complete sentence of three years and 10 months behind bars. He was granted parole in August 2023, enabling his comeback to golf.

In an interview with Golf Digest prior to last yr’s Masters, Cabrera expressed that he was “repentant and embarrassed” by his conduct.

“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 dangerous luck of crossing paths with me when I used to be at my worst. I wasn’t the satan, but I did dangerous issues.”