Former Masters and US Open champion Angel Cabrera has been sentenced to two years in prison on assault charges against his former partner.
A court in the province of Cordoba – about 500 miles north-west of Buenos Aires – on Wednesday convicted the 51-year-old Argentine for assaulting, threatening and harassing Cecilia Torres Mana, his partner between 2016 and 2018.
Cabrera, who denied any wrongdoing during the trial, will serve his sentence immediately.
“His situation is much more complex than this, he has other charges for which there are arrest warrants too. There are other victims,” prosecutor Laura Battistelli told TV channel Todo Noticias.
The first charges were brought by Torres Mana, and two other women then did the same. The golfer travelled to the United States in July 2020 without seeking permission, which led the province of Cordoba to request his arrest.
Cabrera was arrested by Interpol agents in Rio de Janeiro in January. Last month he was extradited from Brazil to his homeland so he could face trial.
He became the first Argentine to win a major championship since Roberto De Vicenzo by claiming the 2007 US Open Championship at Oakmont, when he held off Jim Furyk and a resurgent Tiger Woods.
Cabrera’s second major followed at the 2009 Masters when he beat American pair Chad Campbell and Kenny Perry in a play-off. Cabrera came close to a second Green Jacket in 2013, losing to Adam Scott in a play-off.
His taste for the big occasion was replicated in Europe where one of his three wins was the European Tour’s flagship event, the 2005 BMW Championship at Wentworth. Cabrera was known for his long-hitting and prodigious distance but also his fiery temperament.
He was raised in Villa Allende, a barrio of Córdoba, by his grandmother, having been abandoned by his parents. Cabrera’s life in golf began by working as a caddie at a nearby club for 25 pesos a day.