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Angel Cabrera has been plotting his return to the competitive golf landscape ever since being released from prison in August.
The former Masters champion was released after serving two-and-a-half years in custody in Brazil and Argentina over multiple domestic violence convictions relating to two former partners.
In December, he finished T10 at Abierto del Litoral, a tournament on the PGA Tour’s Latinoamerica Developmental Series in his native Argentina.
And now Cabrera is ready to make his full comeback to the game on a more established domain.
• Angel Cabrera eyes PGA Tour return after prison release
• Footage shows Angel Cabrera return to golf course
Golfweek reports that Cabrera is set to return to the PGA Tour Champions circuit next month, where he last played in 2020 before his imprisonment.
He is set to return at the Trophy Hassan II at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Morocco, before playing in the Visa Argentina Open in Buenos Aires – an event sanctioned by the Korn Ferry Tour.
Cabrera does not need a visa to enter North Africa, making his comeback choice more straightforward.
“He’s been gone for three years and served time in jail and had time for personal reflection,” PGA Tour Champions President Miller Brady told Golfweek. “It’s a bit like Jim Thorpe, who spent time in jail (one year for tax evasion) and was welcomed back.
“It’s a little different. I don’t know if he can travel in the United States because he needs a visa. I think guys forgive. I’m not sure if spouses will forgive, that’s the bigger question. But he has the right to play.”
Difficulties in obtaining a visa could disrupt Cabrera’s plans to play in tournaments Stateside, but he has also received an invite to play in the Insperity Invitational in Houston this May.
• McEwan: Ángel Cabrera’s prison release poses problem for golf
• Angel Cabrera: The major champ and the ‘Prison Of Hell’
Meanwhile, uncertainty still surrounds Cabrera’s possible return to the Masters as a past champion.
Winners of the Green Jacket are given lifetime exemptions to play the first major of the year, but Augusta National chiefs have not yet commented on the unique case of Cabrera.
As it stands, Cabrera is listed in the updated field for the 2024 tournament in the category of Past Champions Not Playing.
But in an interview with Golf Digest, the 54-year-old expressed his dream to return to the course where he won his second major back in 2009.
“It’s my dream to return to that prestigious place and walk the course that gave me so much joy and satisfaction,” he said. “It would be a great privilege to return and to attend the Champions Dinner with so many of the golf world’s greatest players.”
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