Wednesday, 20th June 2007 at 12:11 am

Angel Cabrera strikes a blow for the big men

He hails from the John Daly school of athletic golfers, a big, genial man with a ready smile and a command of English that’s better than he lets on, but still rather minimal. Until Sunday, however, he was some way from the top of sport’s celebrity pile, his sponsorship deal with South African Airways (on the big of a lone appearance at the Nedbank Golf Challenge) the only reason he’d featured on the radar in this part of the world.

But after taking on a most inhospitable Oakmont course and managing a five-over total that not even Tiger could better, Angel Cabrera is now a Major champion, his unexpected triumph jettisoning him into golf’s rarefied climes. Whatever he does from here, the man from Argentina has one of the big four titles to his name, sending past Garcia, Montgomerie, Scott, and thousands more professionals who’ve yet to break their Major duck.

Cabrera’s also made a stand, however, for those golfers for whom the gym and training regime that Woods has brought to the game, simply doesn’t appeal. Granted, Tiger still finished runner-up, and did have the impending arrival of little Sam Alexis Woods to distract him (she was born the day after the tournament), but the rotund South American will have had big men across the planet cheering him on. Dales Hayes would definitely have approved.