His bio sounds almost too formulaic to be true; a Horatio Alger story that began in the hard scrabble barrios and caddie yards of Cordoba, Argentina and yesterday led to a permanent place in the Champions Locker Room at Augusta National.As twilight descended on a picture perfect Easter Sunday afternoon, a burly, balding, grade school dropout was fitted for the fabled green jacket, after the most magical Masters in recent memory.
The course, much maligned in recent years was universally praised, the weather which has been know to be dank and dismal was bright and bracing, and there were abundant story lines featuring the most popular players.
Television ratings reflected the magic, on both ESPN, who's coverage of the weekday rounds were the highest in eight years, and CBS where the sudden-death playoff between Senor Cabrera, Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell resulted in a ratings win. However it was online that the most dramatic increases in Masters coverage took place. Traffic to golf content on ESPN.com on day one of the tournament was up 36%, participation in their Masters Best Ball Challenge game was up 71%, and live streaming coverage of round one ESPN360.com more than tripled compared to the same day last year. The Masters own site with it's extraordinary interactive content - as well as other high profile golf sites - echoed that experience. And it was all pulled together and deseminated via Twitter, Blogs and Social Networks, creating what amounted to a viral, word-of-mouth marketing campaign for the fabled tournament.
And at a time when the golf industry's image has taken a major hit due to its association with high flying hedge funders and bailed out corporate executives, it was quite ironic to see a former Cordoba Caddy known as El Pato win golf's most revered championship.
Thank you for recognizing Angel's accomplishments. Too many posts today have been about Tiger and Phil failing, Kenny Perry choking and gallery boob grabs.
ReplyDeleteVery few have acknowledged Cabrera's accomplishments.
I was rooting for the "old guy" Mr. Perry, but Mr. Cabrera's win brought a smile to my face also. Magical is a good word to describe it.
ReplyDeleteI was somewhat indifferent to the winner, because to me it was a win-win deal: either Kenny Perry, a player who discovered his inner greatness late wins, or an Argentine fellow wins and it means a great deal to his countrymen.
ReplyDeleteRoberto Di Vicenzo undoubtedly was greatly pleased the most by the well deserved win.
Say what you want about the lucky bounce off of the tree on 18...Campbell and Perry had great chanced to end Angel's chances and didn't. Luck is only good if you get the ball up and down, and that's what happened.
The rest is history.
About the only bad feeling I have after this Masters is trying to decide who was more immature: Rory Mcilroy for denying his temper flared or Sergio for his extremely lame jab at Augusta National following the tournament.
Angel's 2nd shot off the tree won him the Masters not the approach shot on the 10th. He played great golf and deserves the green jacket.
ReplyDeleteel pato
ReplyDeleteI didn't know the details of Mr. Cabrero's life, but it certainly makes his win even sweeter. I always love a great story behind a win.
ReplyDeleteMagical indeed...
I would have been happy if any of the three won. Life changing for two of them. Once I heard more of Angel's "backstory", the warmer I felt about him. He started his golf life much the way my Dad started his some 90 years or so ago.
ReplyDeleteTV ratings for Sunday were not as good as last year though... People figured Tiger was too far back I guess.
ReplyDeleteLoved seeing Cabrera win. Loved the way he chomped his gum and because of that, I knew he had an advantage.
Hi there!
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Snooty and Walter!
Last year I played golf in Argentina and I'd really enjoyed my stay there.
I suggest the service called: Let's golf in Argentina.
Goodbye,
Bob.