Masters game plan working out perfectly for Team Cabrera

The odd couple of Angel Cabrera and PGA Professional Charlie Epps arrived in Augusta having meticulously plotted a path to Cabrera's second major title. Now all that's left to do is finish it off.

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The plan was to stop by the grocery store, pick up a few nice pieces of veal, an excellent red wine and go to their rental home and chill.

A little Veal Milanese. A few glasses of wine. Some easy conversation.

Angel Cabrera will do the cooking; Charlie Epps will keep things mellow and do the dishes. They’ll watch a little television, check out the news from Argentina. Talk a little golf.

And if the gang drops by? They’re welcome to hang out until 11:30, when Epps will kick them out the door. He did that Friday night, too.

Cabrera, after all, needs his rest.

It’s been an easy week and Epps doesn’t want to change a thing. Would you?

Epps, a PGA Professional and the Director of Instruction at the Houstonian Golf & Country Club in suburban Houston, and the 39-year-old Argentine couldn’t have drawn up a plan for a better week if they’d tried. Hard work when they needed it. A little spit and polish when they didn’t. An emphasis on patience. A little fun ease the tension of the week.

The result? Three rounds in the 60s, a spot in the final pairing on Easter Sunday at the Masters and a chance to win a second major in less than three years.

“It’s what you dream of, but that’s not to say we didn’t think he could do it,’’ said Epps, who started working with Cabrera in the spring of 2007. “He’s been working hard all year, but he’s gotten on the bad side of the draw.

“But now, it’s all coming together.’’

Indeed it is. No one has been more consistent. No one else has three rounds in the 60s. No one else on the leader board is flying so low under the radar.

The 2007 U.S. Open champ has fallen to 69th in the world rankings, so is it any wonder that -- even though he shares the 54-hole lead with 49-year-old Kenny Perry -- the talk is mostly about Perry, Jim Furyk, Chad Campbell and the glam final-round paring of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, who trail by seven?

“I think it motivates him more,’’ Epps said. “I tell him, ‘You’ve won one. Now let’s win another.’ … He’s confident. He’s a major winner. I keep reminding him of that.’’

He’d like nothing more to call him a double major winner Sunday night.

>The two have been an Odd Couple since three months before the U.S. Open. And now it seems -- like Oscar and Felix -- they’re a perfect fit.

Cabrera’s manager was looking for someone to help his player with the short game, and Epps came to mind. He spoke the language, he’d known Cabrera since the latter was a kid and even played with him in the Argentine Open. And back in the early 1990s, Epps had even been approached by a close friend about sponsoring the young Cabrera.

Ironically, Epps said they should pass.

“I just never thought he would overcome his anger,’’ said Epps, who went to high school in Argentina with the manager’s mother. “He’s matured.’’

Both on and off the course.

Cabrera, who won the Open at the ultra-tough Oakmont, is a powerful player. He’s a bear of a man who lumbers down fairways, bombs it off the tee and has a deft touch with his irons.

“He’s one of the best iron players I’ve ever seen. He’s Hoganesque,’’ said Epps, likening him to the great Ben Hogan. “He hits the ball so solid and his lower-body work is similar to the way Hogan played. And there’s not too many guys going to blow it by him maybe other than a (Bubba) Watson.”

Cabrera, who tied for eighth here in 2006, was nervous on the first tee Thursday. In fact, that opening shot is the most nerve-wracking shot he hits all year.

“He was third and he just couldn’t wait,’’ Epps said. “He hit it and he hit a bomb. Just bombed it out there and that relaxed him. He’s just been playing hard-nosed golf.”

A pair of opening 68s. Saturday’s 69 with just one bad shot and two bogeys. He misclubbed on the first hole and three-putted from 40 feet. And at 14, he missed the green and failed to get up and down.

But at 18? For the second consecutive day, he worked some magic.

“I call him the artist,’’ Epps said. “He carved a low iron up there on 18 yesterday for birdie and he did the same thing today for par.’’

And his flop shot on the 15th that set up a birdie? “It would have made Tiger and Phil proud,’’ Epps said.

These two are quite a pair. Cabrera calls Epps either Chucky or Gordo or Gordita (fat one). Epps calls him by his Argentine nickname Pato (Duck) or Angel -- the Americanized version with a hard G.

“He always says don’t ever call me Angel,’’ Epps chuckled, “because I’m not one.’’

This week they’ve shared a house and the cooking. Cabrera opened the week with a chicken spaghetti and made the sauce from scratch. And his Salisbury steak? Epps was raving about the sauce. Epps grilled and turned him onto kielbasa -- a substitute for chorizo.

So who’s the better cook? Cabrera laughed. “Me,’’ he said, slapping his chest.

The Open allowed Cabrera to sit back and enjoy his career, and he hasn’t played too well since then. And last week he missed the cut at the windblown Shell Houston Open -- he got the worst of the draw -- which allowed him to head to Augusta a day early.

And Epps came prepared with a little motivation.

“I put a video together of his Oakmont victory,’’ Epps said. “He’s always telling me how many putts he doesn’t make. And I tell him, ‘Hey, just watch this.’ He got a kick out of it.’’

They’ve watched it several times this week and plan to watch it again Sunday morning since the final group doesn’t tee off until 2:35 p.m. It will also give him time to visit with his sons Federico (21) and Angel, Jr. (18), who are back home in Argentina playing in their own tournament.

“Tonight,’’ Epps said, “they’re probably going to wish they were here.’’

Cabrera is guarded with the U.S. media, in part because of the language barrier, but he’s known back home in Cordoba for his generosity. He set up a foundation that supports both local hospitals and aspiring golf pros.

Epps likens Cabrera to former Major League pitcher Roger Clemens.

“He’s a fierce competitor,’’ Epps said. ‘He only gets upset with himself.’’

If Cabrera would win, he would become the first Argentine to capture the Masters and would vault back up the world rankings. What it wouldn’t do is erase the scar of Roberto de Vicenzo’s scoring mistake that cost him the 1968 Masters.

That happened a year before Cabrera was born and, make no mistake, he wants to win this one for himself.

Cabrera is -- an always has been a feel player. He gets the yardage and goes. No over-thinking. No over-planning. It’s, well, the Argentine way.

Saturday night, Team Cabrera was all smiles. Epps. Cabrera. The half-dozen buddies who have spent time hanging out with them at the house.

So, someone asked, what’s the difference between the Cabrera who won the Open and the one who has a chance to win the 73rd Masters?

“I think he’s better,’’ Epps said. “His short game. His focus. He’s a major winner.’’

He paused.

“And he’s determined.”

But is he a two-time major winner? We’ll just have to wait and see.