MASTERS boss Fred Ridley has defended inviting former champion Angel Cabrera to compete following the golfer’s time in prison.
The putter, 55, will play at Augusta this week for the first time since 2019.
Cabrera, who won the Masters in 2013, spent more than two years in an Argentine prison after being found guilty in 2021 and 2022 of “sexually, psychologically and physically abusing” his wife, girlfriend and another woman.
Cabrera’s latest golf appearance, which comes after he attended Scottie Scheffler’s Masters Champions Dinner, has infuriated women’s rights groups.
But Ridley, the Masters chair, has defended his decision to invite Cabrera back.
He said: “We certainly abhor domestic violence of any type.
“As it relates to Angel, Angel has served the sentence that was prescribed by the Argentine courts, he is the past champion and so he was invited.”
Last year, Ridley caused outrage when he declared that Augusta will eventually “welcome” Cabrera back with open arms.
He said in January 2024: “Angel certainly is one of our great champions.
“As we all know, he has been unable to participate in the Masters the last couple of years due to legal issues.
“Presently we have been in constant contact with Angel’s representatives. He presently is not able to enter the United States. He doesn’t have a visa and I know that process is being worked through.
“We certainly wish him the best of luck with that, and we’ll definitely welcome him back if he’s able to straighten out those legal issues.”
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Cabrera himself is delighted to be back at the Masters.
He said: “I’m very grateful and obviously the people of the golf world are very great with me and I just appreciated the way they treated me.
“Everybody has their own opinion and I respect that. Life has given me another opportunity. I have got to take advantage of that and I want to do the right things in this second opportunity.
“There was a stage in my life of four, five years, that I wasn’t doing the right things I should have done. Before that I was OK, so I just have to keep doing what I know I can do right.”
Cabrera was released from a prison he later described as “a living hell” in August 2023.
And after being originally refused a visa to enter the USA, he was allowed in to compete in Champions Tour events – and at the Masters, as an ex-champion.
He warmed up by banking over £250,000 for a two shot victory at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational in Florida on Sunday, his first win in the States since July 2014.
But Cabrera is not expected to be among the frontrunners for this year’s competition, with Rory McIlroy favourite to win his first-ever Masters.