Ángel Cabrera

Cabrera turned professional at age twenty and his first three visits to the European Tour Qualifying School were unsuccessful. On his fourth trip in 1995, made with Molina's financial assistance, he qualified for membership of the European Tour in 1996. Cabrera retained his card comfortably in his first three seasons and improved substantially to tenth on the Order of Merit in 1999. He has since finished in the top 15 of the Order of Merit on seven occasions, with a best placing of fifth in 2005.

Cabrera's first European Tour win was the 2001 Argentine Open, which was sanctioned by the European Tour on a one-time basis that year. In 2005, he won the BMW Championship, the most prestigious event on the European Tour outside the majors and the World Golf Championships. However, it was only his third European Tour win, a tally which was perhaps disappointing given his consistent form on the tour. At that point, Cabrera had also won seven non-European Tour events in Latin America, where the standard of play is much lower than on the European Tour.[10]

Cabrera featured a highest of 9th in the Official World Golf Ranking[11][12] on 2 October 2005. He was the top-ranked Latin American player for a number of years before the emerging pair of Andrés Romero and Camilo Villegas won PGA Tour tournaments in 2008. Cabrera earned enough money ($623,504) on the PGA Tour in 2006 playing as a non-member to earn a tour card for 2007. He has played almost full-time in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

In 2009, Cabrera announced partnership with Gary Player Design to collaborate on a golf course design business with a focus in Latin America.[13] This coincides with golf, the Olympics and Brazil coming together in 2016.

Cabrera won his first major championship at the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont near Pittsburgh. He finished the tournament at 5-over, topping runners-up Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk by one stroke. Cabrera entered the third round as the leader at even par, after finishing the first round at 1-under, and shooting 1-over on the second day. He struggled during the third round, finishing 6 strokes over par, putting him 4 strokes behind Aaron Baddeley and two behind Woods. Cabrera rebounded and came back strong on the last day. He birdied one of the longest par-3 holes in major championship history when he sunk a 20-foot (6 m) putt at the 8th hole, which played at a lengthy 300 yards (274 m) on Sunday. Cabrera finished one stroke under par, bringing him down to 5-over (285) for the championship, just enough to secure his first career major victory. At a post-round interview Cabrera said "Well, there are some players that have psychologists, some have sportologists, I smoke."[14]

Cabrera became the first Argentine player to win the U.S. Open and the second to win a major, joining Roberto De Vicenzo, who won the British Open in 1967 at Royal Liverpool (Hoylake). Cabrera received the 2007 Olimpia de Oro ("Golden Olympia") as Argentina's sportsperson of the year.[15]

Cabrera won the Masters Tournament in 2009 in a three-way sudden-death playoff, seeing off Chad Campbell after the first playoff hole, and defeating Kenny Perry on the second. On the first playoff hole, the 18th, Cabrera missed right of the fairway, leaving his ball stymied directly behind a tree. On his second shot, he hit a shot right of the tree that would have sent the golf ball onto the 10th hole fairway, but ended up hitting another tree about 30 yards (27 m) ahead, bouncing left and settling in the center of the 18th fairway. He and Perry both got up-and-down for par, while Campbell missed his 4-foot (1.2 m) par putt and was eliminated. On the second playoff hole, the 10th, Cabrera made par to defeat Perry, becoming the first Argentine to win the Masters.[16] He was the lowest-ranked golfer to win the Masters, having been ranked 69th before the tournament.

In 2011, Cabrera was in the mix to win a second Green Jacket at Augusta when he was in the final pairing on Sunday, four strokes behind leader Rory McIlroy. Cabrera was tied for the lead at one point during the afternoon, but bogeys on 12 and 16 derailed his chances. He posted a final round 71 which placed him in sole seventh, five strokes behind the South African Charl Schwartzel. This was however Cabrera's best finish in a major tournament since his win back in 2009. He missed the cut in the years other three major championships and failed to qualify for the season ending FedEx Cup playoffs, finishing 154th in the standings. His best finish of the season was a T6 in the fall season at the McGladrey Classic.

At the Masters in 2013, Cabrera was again in the final pairing on Sunday. After taking a two shot lead on the front nine, Cabrera proceeded to lose the lead and after failing to birdie the par-5 15th and was two shots behind leader Jason Day. Day then bogeyed two holes in succession and when Cabrera made a 20-foot putt for birdie at the 16th he tied Adam Scott and Day briefly for the lead. As Cabrera stood on the 18th fairway, up ahead on the green and playing in the penultimate group, Scott holed a birdie putt to take the lead. Cabrera hit a 163-yard (149 m) 7-iron to 3 feet (0.9 m) and knocked in the putt to force a playoff. On the first playoff hole, Scott's second shot was 160 yards (146 m) out, but rolled back off the front of the green. Cabrera's second shot also came up short, rolling back off the green and coming to rest behind Scott's ball. Cabrera's chip just slid by the hole. Both players then made par sending them onto the 10th for the second playoff hole. Scott and Cabrera hit their tee shots in the fairway and matched each other with approach shots which landed on the green giving both birdie chances, Cabrera with 18 feet (5 m) uphill and Scott a downhill right to left 12 footer. Cabrera's putt was a turn away from dropping in, giving Scott a chance to win with his putt. Scott made the putt defeating Cabrera and bringing Australia their first ever green jacket.

Although Cabrera was fully exempt on the PGA Tour, he occasionally competed in Argentinian events on PGA Tour Latinoamérica, a developmental tour in Latin America whose 2013 members included former PGA Tour winners Carlos Franco and Ted Purdy. Cabrera won the 2012 Visa Open de Argentina and the 2013 Abierto del Centro.

Cabrera won the Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia on 6 July 2014, his first PGA Tour victory since claiming the green jacket in 2009. It was his third win in the United States, but his first non-major win on the PGA Tour. Cabrera shot a six-under-par 64 on both Saturday and Sunday to secure the title, winning $1.17 million[17]

Cabrera finished in the top-25 only twice and wound up 170th on the PGA Tour's money list.

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	17 Jun 2007	U.S. Open	69-71-76-69=285	+5	1 stroke	Jim Furyk, Tiger Woods
2	12 Apr 2009	Masters Tournament	68-68-69-71=276	−12	Playoff	Chad Campbell, Kenny Perry
3	6 July 2014	Greenbrier Classic	68-68-64-64=264	−16	2 strokes	George McNeill

PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	2009	Masters Tournament	Chad Campbell, Kenny Perry	Won with par on second extra hole Campbell eliminated by par on first hole
2	2013	Masters Tournament	Adam Scott	Lost to birdie on second extra hole

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	1 Apr 2001	Open de Argentina1	67-65-69-67=268	−12	2 strokes	Carl Pettersson
2	12 May 2002	Benson & Hedges International Open	68-73-68-69=278	−10	1 stroke	Barry Lane
3	29 May 2005	BMW Championship	70-70-66-67=273	−15	2 strokes	Paul McGinley
4	17 Jun 2007	U.S. Open	69-71-76-69=285	+5	1 stroke	Jim Furyk, Tiger Woods
5	12 Apr 2009	Masters Tournament	68-68-69-71=276	−12	Playoff	Chad Campbell, Kenny Perry

¹Co-sanctioned by the PGA of Argentina Tour

European Tour playoff record (1–2)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	2005	Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe	Niclas Fasth	Lost to birdie on third extra hole
2	2009	Masters Tournament	Chad Campbell, Kenny Perry	Won with par on second extra hole Campbell eliminated by par on first hole
3	2013	Masters Tournament	Adam Scott	Lost to birdie on second extra hole

• 1999 Argentine Masters
• 2001 Argentine Masters
• 2002 Argentine Open
• 2005 Argentine Masters
• 2006 Center Open
• 2007 Center Open¹, Argentine Masters¹

¹Co-sanctioned by the TPG Tour

• 1991 San Diego Grand Prix
• 1992 Norpatagonico Open
• 1994 Villa Gessel Grand Prix, South Open, Center Open, Nautico Hacoaj Grand Prix
• 1995 Abierto del Litoral
• 1996 South Open, Santiago del Estero Open
• 1997 Center Open
• 1998 Argentine PGA Championship
• 2000 Center Open, Bariloche Match Play, Desafio de Maestros
• 2001 Center Open, Argentine Open¹
• 2002 Argentine PGA Championship
• 2004 South Open, North Open
• 2005 Center Open, North Open, Argentine Masters²
• 2006 Center Open²

¹Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
²Co-sanctioned by the Tour de las Américas

• 2001 (2) Ascochingas Tournament, La Cumbre Tournament
• 2002 (2) Rio Cuarto Tournament, Las Delicias Tournament
• 2008 (1) Cordoba PGA Championship
• 2009 (1) Angel Cabrera Tour 2nd Tournament

• 1995 (2) Paraguay Open, El Rodeo Open (Colombia)
• 1996 (2) Volvo Masters of Latin America (Brazil), Viña del Mar Open (Chile)
• 1998 (1) Brazil Open
• 1999 (1) Brazil Open
• 2007 (1) PGA Grand Slam of Golf
• 2009 (1) Gary Player Invitational (with Tony Johnstone)
• 2017 (1) PNC Father-Son Challenge (with Angel Jr)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runners-up
2007	U.S. Open	4 shot deficit	+5 (69-71-76-69=285)	1 stroke	Jim Furyk, Tiger Woods
2009	Masters Tournament	Tied for lead	−12 (68-68-69-71=276)	Playoff1	Chad Campbell, Kenny Perry

¹Defeated Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell in a sudden-death playoff: Cabrera (4-4), Perry (4-5) and Campbell (5).

WD = withdrew
CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

• Most consecutive cuts made – 7 (2008 PGA – 2010 U.S. Open)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (2001 Masters – 2001 U.S. Open)