Angel Cabrera named European PGA Tour Golfer of the Month in June

In what must have been an easy call, the European PGA Tour just named Angel Cabrera the tour’s Golfer of the Month for June, following his win at the U.S. Open at Oakmont.

“I am very happy with all this recognition which gives me strength to keep playing at the highest level,” said Cabrera. “This win was very important, especially as it had been 40 years since another Argentine won a Major so hopefully my US Open win will be a big boost for golf in Argentina.

“The Golfer of the Month award is very important to me. The European Tour is my home. I have been here since 1996 and feel very comfortable here.”

Cabrera’s victory at the Open must have touched off huge celebrations not just in Argentina, but also outside London, where the European Tour is headquartered. The ET has watched annually as many of its brightest stars showed up at the U.S. Open and failed to do anything significant. Before Cabrera, it had been 37 years since the last European Tour regular won a U.S. Open (Tony Jacklin in 1970). You can’t really count Ernie Els and Retief Goosen (both two-time champions) - while they cut their teeth on the European Tour, they’ve been playing pretty much full time on the PGA Tour for years now.

Of course, some people will group Cabrera with them too - this journey man is no stranger to the PGA Tour. But in recent years he’s tended to at least divide his schedule pretty evenly between both sides of the Atlantic.

Not that pro golf needed any reminders that the ET has some excellent, seasoned players, but Cabrera’s win certainly provided a little PR jolt. My e-mail was flooded with press releases connecting Cabrera to the ET (and some other, truly strange press releases which will be the subject of a future blog).

Also in the running for ET Golfer of the Month in June were, among others, Sweden’s Niclas Fasth, who won the BMW International Open, Spain’s Carl Suneson, winner of the Open de Saint-Omer, and veteran Bernard Langer, who almost pulled off a hometown win at Golfclub Muenchen Eichenried.

But up against the U.S. Open winner, they really didn’t have a chance.