Whatever is on the menu for the Champions Dinner at the Masters, you can be sure that the bitter taste of disgust will linger.
Maybe not so much in the Augusta National clubhouse itself, where the winners will gather for the annual parade of the green jackets, but certainly to many in the world at large.
To think, in 2022, the word was that it had been “strongly suggested” to LIV rebel Phil Mickelson that it would be better if he stayed away, so as not to add any discomfort to such a venerable occasion. Just three years on, Angel Cabrera will be welcomed back into the fold at the 89th Masters. They will roll out the green carpet.
All a bit odd, no? You might suspect that the Argentine’s presence would be a tad awkward, seeing as he recently served 30 months in prison for domestic abuse. But, hey, this is a men-only function and there will be no need for any of that. Another serving of twisted morals, anyone?
Of course, the cry will go up that Cabrera, the 2009 winner who only missed playing in last year’s Masters because he could not obtain a visa, has served his time and should be able to resume his employment. Fair enough. However, Augusta goes out of its way to call its participants “invitees”. It was their choice. Nobody else’s.
So Cabrera will take his place among the legends and smile for the picture that goes around the globe. You know the score, a Jack Nicklaus here, a Gary Player there, a Tiger Woods at the back. Great golfers, even better humans, blah, blah, blah.
Excuse a few women if they do not find the scenario at all honourable and instead are struck by utter revulsion and repulsion. And please mind those of us who will wonder why the feelings of those abused are deemed less important than the so-called rehabilitation of the abuser himself, and think of the words uttered by Jamie Klingler, the co-founded of Reclaim These Streets, earlier this week.
“As long as male athletes can excel at hitting a ball, we excuse those same men hitting women,” the women’s activist told Telegraph Sport. “Because that trophy is valued more than his victim’s life.”
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