Parting thoughts after a Masters with more intriguing twists and turns than the last three editions combined:
-- Angel Cabrera looked remarkably comfortable on the hallowed grounds of Augusta National. He smiled frequently, gave Kenny Perry a gentle high-five after they both made par on the first playoff hole and moved through the traditional champion's rituals -- victory ceremonies, news conference, television interviews -- with striking grace, especially given the language barrier (he speaks little English).
But don't let Cabrera's easygoing manner fool you into thinking he was somehow destined to hang with this crowd. His background offers another blow to the perception of golf as a game of privilege, played only by those groomed in country-club wealth.
Cabrera grew up in Villa Allende, a small town outside Cordoba, Argentina. His father was a handyman and his mother worked as a maid. They split up when Angel was a small child, leaving him in the care of his paternal grandmother, who earned modest wages as a housekeeper.
At age 10, Cabrera began to spend time at Cordoba Country Club -- as a caddie. He needed to make money to help put food on the table. The job took him into the galaxy of golf, where he eventually became an accomplished player even as he kept one foot in another world, a temperamental teenager prone to getting in fights.
Now, at 39, Cabrera seems at peace with himself. He's a two-time major champion, one of 15 players to win both the Masters and U.S. Open. It might be tempting to dismiss him as an unworthy champion, because those are his only two PGA Tour wins (he has won four European Tour events and many times in South America) and because Perry ushered him to Sunday's triumph.
That's also not entirely fair, because it requires abundant skill and patience to take an Open at rugged Oakmont and the Masters at turbo-charged Augusta National. And it's impossible not to admire the trip Cabrera made to reach both places.
-- Sunday's electric pairing of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson produced some extraordinary golf -- one eagle, 13 birdies and incomparable energy in the gallery as Woods and Mickelson made an exhilarating charge before ultimately fizzling.
Also worth noting: their predictably limited interaction on the course. Remember the final round of the 2006 Masters, when Mickelson and Fred Couples chuckled and chatted and traded fist bumps as they dueled down the stretch? That wasn't happening Sunday, not by a long shot.
Woods and Mickelson were civil, sure, trading a perfunctory handshake on the first tee and again on the 18th green. And there was no visible sign of tension between Mickelson and Steve Williams, Woods' caddie; Williams described Mickelson in unfavorable terms in New Zealand in December.
-- Mickelson always will remember his record-tying, front-nine 30, but he also will rue several shots on Sunday's back nine -- not only his 9-iron into the creek on No. 12, but also short missed putts on No. 15 (for eagle) and No. 17 (for birdie).
This was the first major in which Mickelson contended on the back nine of the final round since his epic final-hole collapse at the 2006 U.S. Open, and it was the first time he and Woods both had a chance since the '06 Masters, won by Mickelson.
-- So much for all the chatter about Augusta National's strengthened, lengthened layout not producing final-round excitement. As it turned out, Chairman Billy Payne was right: The weather was the biggest culprit the past few years. Now he needs to order 75-degree sunshine every year.
-- CBS's ratings for the final round were down 3 percent from a year ago. Sunday's telecast received a household rating/share of 8.3/20. In 2008, the final round got an 8.6/18.
(E-mail Ron Kroichick at rkroichick(at)sfchronicle.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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