Cabrera got close, but not close enough

If you thought that his superlative play and a green jacket already hanging in his locker was consolation enough for Angel Cabrera after a playoff loss at last year’s Masters Tournament, you would be grossly mistaken.

The two-time major champion from Argentina isn’t satisfied with moral victories.

“For me there wasn’t anything good,” Cabrera said. “I came out second. I wanted to win. I was right there, I had the chance and for me, something good would have been to win.”

From the moment he walked on the grounds at Augusta National Golf Club until the instant Adam Scott’s birdie putt disappeared into the cup on the second playoff hole, Cabrera believed he was going to win a second green jacket.

“I felt good all week,” Cabrera said. “I had a good feeling and I felt comfortable.”

His swing coach Charlie Epps even predicted as much when they arrived in Augusta the Sunday before.

“You better watch out for him this week,” Epps said.

Cabrera didn’t make many missteps all week, shooting under-par every round. The steady rain on Sunday did nothing to diminish his resolve.

“I won twice in England and in England you play often with that weather,” he said. “I won at Belfry and the weather there was worse than here – the rain, the wind, the cold. It was worse than that.”

Perhaps his biggest disappointment was the par-5 13th hole, which he bogeyed both days on the weekend. His Sunday mistake there dropped him two shots behind leader Jason Day at the time.

“The shot that surprised me was the shot on 13 that he let it get away a few yards to the right and made bogey,” Epps said.

When it counted, Cabrera stepped up with birdies on 16 and 18 in the final three rounds. No shot came under more pressure than his 7-iron approach from 163 yards on the 72nd hole after the concussive reaction to Scott’s 28-foot birdie putt.

Cabrera ranks the shot he stuck to 4 feet to set up the tying birdie as one of the best of his career. It matches his drive on the final hole at Oakmont in the 2007 U.S. Open, which he won for his first major.

“At Augusta every shot is difficult, but there I didn’t have another choice,” he said. “I had to try to leave it close and make the putt. I didn’t have other options.”

The shot that impressed Epps the most was Cabrera’s drive with a 3-iron off the 10th hole in the Masters playoff. With Scott already comfortably in the fairway after hitting 3-wood, Cabrera chased his iron stinger down to the bottom of the hill.

“The magical shot I thought was the 3-iron in the playoff off 10,” Epps said. “He wanted to hit first into 10. In regular play he hit 3-wood through the fairway and made bogey. That’s the shotmaker in Angel. Not many can hit a 3-iron quail-high 280 yards.”

The level of golf by both players in the last hour of Sunday was superb. Cabrera is not the kind of player to dwell on all the shots that could have gone in and given him the win. He burned the lip of the cup for birdie on the 17th hole in regulation. His chip on the first playoff hole looked perfect until it slipped barely past the hole. His birdie attempt on the second playoff hole needed to break a fraction more and it would have put all the pressure on Scott to answer him.

“I hit them like I wanted but I went away with empty hands,” Cabrera said with a shrug.

The week after the Masters, Cabrera returned to his home Cordoba Golf Club in Argentina for the Abierto del Centro. He chipped in for eagle on the 18th hole to cap a Sunday 64, rallying from six shots down to earn a berth in a playoff against Rafael Gómez. This time Cabrera won with a birdie on the first playoff hole.

“For me it is very important victory, here in Villa Allende, with my people, my house,” Cabrera said. “And that it belongs to the PGA Tour Latinoamérica for me is an honor.”

Things have been less positive for Cabrera since. Nursing a sore left shoulder that might eventually require surgery, Cabrera, now 44, has made only one cut in five starts this season on the PGA Tour. His five-year Tour exemption for winning the 2009 Masters runs out after this season, meaning Cabrera needs to finish in the top 125 on the FedEx Cup points list to retain his card.

He currently ranks 208th.

“Last year is gone,” he said. “I’m going to practice. I still have many tournaments to play. I’ll try to arrive at Augusta in the best shape possible as usual, and I will try to play well.”

The Masters is a safe haven for him as he hasn’t missed a cut at Augusta since 2005 and has six career top 10s. He remains a threat any time he shows up.

“When I stop wanting to go there, I won’t go,” he said.