Disgraced former US Open & Masters champion Angel Cabrera extradited from Brazil to Argentina to face domestic violence charges

Argentine golfer Angel Cabrera, who won the Masters and US Open in 2007 and 2009, is now back in his homeland to face charges of domestic violence against his former partners after being extradited from Brazil .

Previously at large since August, the 51-year-old was arrested in the popular tourist hotspot of Rio de Janeiro at the turn of 2021 yet finally turned over to Argentine custody on Tuesday.

Photographed donning a helmet and bulletproof vest, Cabrera was led handcuffed by police before being flown to his neighboring South American country.

According to a police statement, the golfer is facing charges of causing minor injuries, threats and theft between 2016 and 2020.

His partner Cecilia Torres Mana accused Cabrera of striking her in the face and filed an allegation of assault against him in December 2016.

But since then, a pair of other women, including his ex-wife Silva Rivadero, have also filed domestic abuse complaints against the disgraced star.

Going on the lam last summer, Cabrera failed to meet prosecutors in Cordoba and was placed on Interpol's red list as a consequence. 

Laura Battistelli, the prosecutor, remarked that Cabrera would stand trial as part of a case she was heading on July 1 this year, as other allegations are still being investigated.

"He's detained because the court considered that he was evading the trial," Battistelli confirmed.

Rising to global fame in 2007, Cabrera kept Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk at bay when becoming the first and last South American to scoop a major at the US Open.  

Two years later, he claimed the iconic green jacket at Augusta when winning the Masters, and almost reclaimed his title in 2013 before losing a tense play-off to Adam Scott.

In 2014, he claimed $1.7 million prize money by clinching the Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia.

Yet since then, 'El Pato' as he is known in Spanish due to his duck-like waddle, has been unable to recapture his former glory, and has failed to make the cut at either the US Open or Masters in his last two attempts in 2017 and 2018.