2007 US Open Champ Cabrera

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

I do congratualte Cabrera for winning the Open. He made great shots and survived those moments and the pressure better than anyone else in the field. Tiger was more than just another golfer but he made mistakes that any tour pro would make on a regualar basis. Jim F was the only other guy besides Cabrera who made the big shots yet he made a poor move and paid for it at 17. The best man was Cabrera and my hat is off to him.

[George Pazin]

I do congratualte Cabrera for winning the Open. He made great shots and survived those moments and the pressure better than anyone else in the field. Tiger was more than just another golfer but he made mistakes that any tour pro would make on a regualar basis. Jim F was the only other guy besides Cabrera who made the big shots yet he made a poor move and paid for it at 17. The best man was Cabrera and my hat is off to him.

Got so fired up reading Barney I forgot to congratulate Cabrera.

Echoing our Tiger's sentiments above, I thought Cabrera simply played the best for 4 days and deserved to win. Only people with a myopic view of golf would not know him and his talents.

Well played.

[Michael Moore]

I am looooooving Angel's no-BS responses to some of the questions he gets.

"I see you knocked out Phil Mickelson."
"He shot +11. Mickelson knocked himself out."

"I see you beat the best player in the world out there."
"I beat everybody."

[Dan Herrmann]

One of the questions in the press conference (a strange one in my mind) was if Angel was looking forward to being a role model for Hispanic children in the US and South America.

His reply was something for which Charles Barkley would be proud:  "I don't think I should be considered a role model".

Love him!

He's the USA's Champion Golfer.

[Phil McDade]

I think Shackelford needs to let some of you guys start topics on his site so it cuts down the OT threads over here.  That being said...

Did Nicklaus ever blow two majors in one year as Woods already has in 2007?  Someone told me that Watson stole two championships where Nicklaus had the lead in 77.

John:

Nicklaus lost two majors in '77 to Watson, but whether he "blew" it in either one is subject to debate. He was three off the lead entering the final round at Augusta, and shot 66, holding the lead at one time. Watson, the overnight leader, shot 67, including a birdie on 17 to essentially clinch it. Not exactly a choke job, just getting outplayed (the '77 Masters leaderboard was as rich as any in modern history; of the top 12 finishers, all but two had or would go on to win a major -- Watson, Nicklaus, Kite, Irwin, David and Lou Graham, Crenshaw, Floyd, Hubert Green, January, and Littler.)

At Turnberry that year, Watson and Nicklaus entered the final two rounds tied for second, one shot off the lead. Nicklaus went 65-66 on the weekend; Watson went 65-65. Watson's 50-foot bomb on 15 put him ahead, and he clinched it with an iron to about two feet on 18. Nicklaus' last two shots at Turnberry -- where he literally took out a bush on his second shot after driving into the rough, then sunk a curling, 30-footer for birdie -- were pretty memorable, and not the stuff of a guy throwing away a tourney.

[Tim Pitner]

One of the questions in the press conference (a strange one in my mind) was if Angel was looking forward to being a role model for Hispanic children in the US and South America.

Cabrera, an Argentinean living in London, has about as much in common with a child whose roots are from Mexico or Guatemala as I do (which is to say, very little).  

[Kalen Braley]

I am looooooving Angel's no-BS responses to some of the questions he gets.

"I see you knocked out Phil Mickelson."
"He shot +11. Mickelson knocked himself out."

"I see you beat the best player in the world out there."
"I beat everybody."

Agreed on this one...nice response to that 2nd question especially....

Good to see a genuine guy get up there with a bit of character and call it like it is.

[Scott Coan]

He had an interesting comment that I read (just can't remember where...)  To paraphrase, "I have normally played quite well in past majors - just could not putt well enough to win.  Here at Oakmont everybody putted horribly so it did not hurt me as much as the others".

Just found the quote...

Q. You never missed the cut in the U.S. Open; what makes you so good in this tournament?

ANGEL CABRERA: Yes, well, I definitely usually play very well in the U.S. Open. Most of the time I'm not making any putts, but this week it was like everybody was missing the putts. So that gave me an advantage.

 

[Michael Blake]

It looked to me that Cabrera did the least amount of "thinking" out there.

While everyone else seemed tourtured on what club to hit or what type of shot to hit, Angel grabbed a club and swung it.  

He didn't give the course a chance to mess with his head.

Well done.

Well done also to his caddie, Eduordo from the Big Break.

[Garland Bayley]

He must have done some thinking to decide to hit iron on 17.

[W.H. Cosgrove]

I knew that Caddy lookked familiar!

[JNC Lyon]

He must have done some thinking to decide to hit iron on 17.

That's probably why he made bogey.

I'm glad someone else noticed Eddie from the Big Break (IV and VII).

[Robert Mercer Deruntz]

Cabrera happens to be well coached.  Though he looked like a grip it and rip it type, he is well disiplined.  He did not go for the green on 14 in addition to 17.  Both of his shots on 16 and 17 were extremely close to being very good.  They could almost be categorized as good shots with bad results.  Tiger had the same thing happen on 17 and 18.  The sand shot flew too high to be thin--it simply did not have the spin he would have anticipated--same with the approach on 18.  Tiger did not lose the tournament, he simply fell one shot short.  Furyk could get the losing the tournament label--he stood on the 17th tee tied for the lead and relinquished his share of the lead.  As the best driver of the ball in golf, it is hard to second guess his play--he simply hit a shot 10 yards off line--anywhere other than 17 it would have been fine.  Cabrera very quietly works on his game with one of Jim McLean's friends--they are very skilled at allowing players to improve without making them carbon copy of a model types.

[Doug Siebert]

He's sort of a Spanish-speaking John Daly (the old John Daly from the Crooked Stick win)  He doesn't believe in practice, working out, healthy living, staying calm or any of the thing modern pros are supposed to.  He used the driver and hit it long and straight when a lot of others were using irons to stay safe, just like Daly did at Crooked Stick.  And like Daly, he beat all comers when everyone figured he'd choke down the stretch.


Tim,

Given that he doesn't speak good enough English to want to be interviewed in English, I wouldn't think that him living in London right now makes him any less Argentinian.  He certainly couldn't have been living there that long, because London isn't exactly Miami where it is easy to get by speaking only Spanish!  Its probably just more convenient for the Euro tour to live in London versus Buenos Aires!

[Tim Pitner]

Doug,

My point about Cabrera was not that he's less Argentinean for living in London--it was that someone from Argentina may not have much in common with someone from, say, Central America.  The media's question about Cabrera being an inspiration to Hispanic children in the United States seems to lump all Spanish-speaking people together.  Argentina probably has more in common with Europe than with a country like Mexico.  I interpreted the question as indicative of our country's naivete when it comes to geography and foreign cultures and our unhealthy obsession with categorizing people along ethnic lines.

BTW, I think Cabrera's English is actually pretty decent, certainly better than my Spanish.