Cabrera cool under pressure when


the heat was on in the Masters

FROM THE TIMES.ONLINE WEBSITE
By John Hopkins, golf correspondent
Angel Cabrera's Masters victory will have been welcomed by no one more than an elderly and increasingly frail Argentinian sitting at home in a suburb of Buenos Aires.
In the 1968 Masters Roberto de Vicenzo appeared to have tied with Bob Goalby at 11 under par. De Vicenzo, however, had made a mistake with his scorecard, recording a 4, a par, at the 17th hole which he had actually birdied and thus he lost by one stroke. "What a stupid I am" he said, memorably.
It will be a relief to Cabrera, pictured above, that he won this championship. With his victory in the US Open in 2007 as well he is half way to winning all four of golf's major championships. The Open and the US PGA remain. This victory should now lessen the sting that De Vicenzo undoubtedly felt 41 years ago.
Cabrera has the rolling gait of a sailor on shore leave, the shoulders of a weight lifter and the face of a clergyman, someone with whom you could easily plead for forgiveness. But he is not a particularly cool customer. Watch him and you will see him occasionally cupping a cigarette in his huge hands and muttering to himself in Spanish.
Yet he was cool under pressure in the excited atmosphere on Sunday afternoon at Augusta National.
The way he recovered to get back into the competition after falling behind Perry and Campbell over his first nine holes was significant. He had three birdies in his last six holes.
So was the way he pitched close and holed from five feet to get into the play-off and so was the way he hit his second shot to the heart of the green of the second play-off hole after Perry's second had drifted left of the green.
The X factor that Cabrera had over Campbell and Perry was best explained by Perry, a man of considerable charm and grace. "Great players make it happen and your average players don't," Perry said. Left unsaid was that he (Perry) is an average player and Cabrera is something from an altogether higher drawer.
It was generous and apt, a fitting tribute to the burly Argentinian.