In the fourth tournament since his return to international tours, Ángel Cabrera from Córdoba won the Paul Lawrie Match Play, his first title on the Legends Tour.
He did so by defeating the South African James Kingston by 3 holes with 1 left to play on the course at the Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel & Country Club.
In the play-off for third place, Greig Hutcheon beat Bradley Dredge 2&1.
Cabrera’s last victory had been in an international PGA Tour tournament at The Greenbrier Classic on June 7, 2014. 10 years ago and now after a three-year hiatus.
“I feel happy like never before, many years have passed since that victory and many things in my life, now I feel healthy and complete, playing well and this is very good for me,” “El Pato” Cabrera confessed.
The first indication of what the final would be like was given by Cabrera who won the second hole, but in a difficult first nine holes they tied six holes in a row and then it was Kingston who won the 8th hole, which would take them to the second half with the match tied.
“I was very calm, I enjoyed being on a golf course, playing to define a tournament, playing well. He was calm as he hadn’t been in a long time. I wasn’t relaxed about the game because in a match play you get careless, you lose two holes and you’re gone,” commented Cabrera,
Cabrera won the 12th hole again and Kingstone tied him on the 14th, both players with birdie El Pato birdied again on the 15th and with par on the 16th he went on to win by 2 with 2 to play and on the 17th which is par 5 Cabrera was ready to settle the match: “There was a comment among the cadi that they did not want to play against me, it happens that this course is short and I could reach the par fives in two and in many par 4 holes I had short shots to the green. . His wife brought the clubs to Kingston and he seemed upset. He knew that at any moment he could give up and I was waiting for him. I hit the four par fives on the course and at the 17th he didn’t want any more.”
Off the tee on the 17th, Cabrera missed to the left and was left clear between a small group of saplings. Kingston landed in the fairway, but his approach shot ended up in the greenside bunker, while Cabrera hit a sublime 8-iron from 177 yards to within 10 feet of the hole. When Kingston hit his bunker shot and passed the flag, the South African awarded the match to Cabrera.
Cabrera, the champion of the 2007 US Open and the 2009 Masters won and it is a different moment in his long career of more than 34 years when he decided to become an aspiring professional.
After overcoming injuries, addiction and the punishment of society in prison, about to serve his sentence, this second life comes to him.
Upon receiving the award he declared: “I am very happy. I worked hard in the last three months, very hard for this. Now, for this moment, I enjoyed it. I had to concentrate and play hole by hole, I like to play match play, you know, we don’t play much match play. I can say that I feel very excited now. “I’m going to play next week and then I have to keep working, I have to keep working because this game is very difficult.”
Cabrera will play the OFX Irish Legends starting Thursday, at the Seapoint Golf Links, County Louth, on the west coast of Northern Ireland, there he will compete against great players in 72 holes individual strokes, as it is the first time he has will bring together in a tournament on this circuit five Major winners, who hold six titles of that hierarchy: Cabrera from the Us Open 2005 and The Masters 2009, Ian Woosnam (Masters 1991), Paul Lawrie (The Open 1999), Shaun Micheel (2003 US PGA) and Michael Campbell (2005 US Open). To which El Pato reflected: “I just want to enjoy being on a course, playing golf, which is the best thing to do, obviously I like to win, but being happy and healthy is the most important thing now.”
