Harman Gets It Done With A Heavy Heart, Cabrera Earns Wins Out Of Prison, And A Toddler's Masters Pick
There is always some sort of story behind each and every winner of a golf tournament, but this past Sunday's set of winners across the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and the senior circuit certainly fall into the unique category as a whole.
Brian Harman held on to win the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio with an incredibly tough circumstance unfolding back home. Marc Leishman found the winner's circle for the first time in nearly four full years. Then you have Angel Cabrera getting it done down in Boca Raton on the PGA Tour Champions after his lengthy stint in prison.
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We'll get into all of the major storylines from the week that was and then look ahead to the Masters, of course, and get into the incredibly important topic of who my toddler thinks will win the green jacket on Sunday afternoon.
As always, shoot over any thoughts and concerns to mark.harris@outkick.com or yell at me on Twitter @itismarkharris.
Angel Cabrera Goes From Jail Cell To Winner's Circle
By no means should Angel Cabrera winning a golf tournament in 2025 be labeled as anything even resembling a redemption story, given the fact he was convicted of domestic assault and intimidation of two of his former partners, but it's fascinating nonetheless.
Cabrera, a two-time major winner, was convicted in 2021 and spent 30 months in jail in both Argentina and Brazil before being released in August 2023. The Argentinian played in 12 PGA Tour Champions events in 2024, picking up five Top 25 finishes on the year, but found the winner's circle this weekend at the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational in South Florida for his first-ever victory on the senior circuit.
The 55-year-old shot one-under in Sunday's final round to secure a two-shot victory over K.J. Choi and is very clearly in form as he prepares to play in his first Masters since 2018.
Cabrera opened up about his stint in the clink last month, explaining that while locked up in Brazil, he shared a two-meter by two-meter cell with another inmate. Less than two years after being released, he's winning golf tournaments and just earned status on the PGA Tour Champions through 2026.
Brian Harman Shows Mental Fortitude In San Antonio
Every player out on Tour is dealing stuff off the golf course, but the stuff Harman was dealing with over the weekend while trying to hold onto his lead at the Valero Texas Open was heavy, very heavy.
The 2023 Open champion and his family endured a real-life nightmare in the Fall of 2023 while on vacation in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. While boogie boarding with a friend, Harman explained that his son was pulled out by a rip current. A family friend by the name of Cathy Dowdy jumped into the water in an attempt to save Harman's son, but was unable to and was placed in a coma for weeks after sustaining an injury during the accident.
Crane Cantrell, a man walking the beach at the time of the accident, was able to pull Harman's son to safety. Harman was in China when the accident took place.
As Harman made his way to the 72nd green on Sunday with a three-shot lead and victory in hand, NBC's Dan Hicks noted that Dowdy was recently moved to hospice care. None of Harman's family was in San Antonio to celebrate with him on Sunday because they flew home the day prior to be with Dowdy.
On top of playing with a heavy heart and mind on Sunday, Harman had to plot his way around TPC San Antonio amid 30 mph winds with a group of hungry chasers just behind him on the leaderboard. Despite shooting three-over on the front nine and carding a double bogey on the ninth hole, he hung in there down the stretch, and his final round 75 was good enough to secure a three-shot win, his first victory since winning The Open in July 2023.
Marc Leishman Gets It Done At Trump's Place
While most of the attention at LIV Golf Miami this week was on the 12 players set to tee it up at Augusta National this week, Marc Leishman was the last man standing after three grueling days at Doral's Blue Monster.
Bryson DeChambeau looked to be the man to beat in South Florida on Sunday, but Leishman put together an extremely impressive round of four-under par to secure his first LIV title and first individual worldwide win since the 2020 Farmers Insurance Open.
Charl Schwartzel made things interesting down the stretch with a six-under round himself, but Leishman's eight consecutive pars to finish the round was good enough to grab a one-shot victory.
The Aussie won't be at Augusta National this week, but among those who will, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Cam Smith, Jon Rahm, Schwartzel, and DeChambeau all finished inside the Top 10 in Miami.
Who My Two-Year-Old Says Will Win The 2025 Masters
Now it's time to get down to the serious business and answer the question everyone reading this has been wanting an answer to for weeks on end: Who does Mark's two-and-a-half-year-old son, who is semi-obsessed with golf, think is winning the 2025 Masters?
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I put the young man on the spot this morning as he housed a piece of banana bread before heading off to daycare. I rattled off the Top 10 players on the odds board, asking him if that player was going to win the Masters this weekend.
I'm being completely honest when I say this, but he said "no" after nine of the 10 names. The only player he answered "yes" to was Justin Thomas. What you do with this insight is totally on you.
JT has missed the cut in each of the last two Masters, but is among the trending names heading into the year's first major championship. Behind Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa, the very smart people over at Data Golf love them some Justin Thomas this week as well.