Angel Cabrera hopes some habits stick at Oakmont

Angel Cabrera has good memories from Oakmont Country Club.

The previous time he played in a major at the club, he overcame a four-stroke deficit on the final day to clinch his first PGA Tour win.

Just don’t ask him about the smoking.

“It’s been very emotional this week with all the memories from back in ’07,” Cabrera said through translator Manuel Tagle, his manager and agent. “So I’ve been waiting several years to actually be back here at this moment, to be back and play Oakmont again.”

At the 2007 U.S. Open, Cabrera famously lit cigarettes between holes. The following year, he ditched the habit. Since he quit smoking, he has experienced great success, including a 2009 victory at the Masters, and heartbreak — a sudden-death playoff loss at the same tournament in 2013.

Cabrera has played in 54 PGA Tour events since that loss, winning one. His 2014 victory in the Greenbrier Classic also marks his only top-10 finish in any tour event since 2013.

Returning to the site of his first great triumph is bittersweet. Cabrera acknowledged his struggles this season and said he was not in “the best position” to play, adding wryly that he hoped “not to suffer too much this week.”

Familiarity with the course could help. Other than a handful of additional bunkers on the final hole, Cabrera said, the course is as it was in 2007, which could bode well for this Argentine affectionately known as “El Pato,” or “the duck.”

“I was hitting the ball so well off the tee, and I made some crucial putts that week,” he recalled. “That was the mental part of the game that was better than any other week.”

Cabrera’s mental game seems to sharpen under pressure: Two of his three PGA Tour wins came in majors. When this was pointed out at his news conference, Cabrera shrugged.

“Certainly, it’s already been proved that for some reason I just play better at majors than regular tournaments,” he said. “There’s something about the majors that gets a lot of focus from me, a lot of the best of me, and that’s been basically the case for all of my golfing career.”

That career began in less than auspicious circumstances. Born and raised in Cordoba, a city in central Argentina, Cabrera was first exposed to golf while serving as a caddie at Cordoba Country Club.

His golf upbringing contrasts with those of Jim Furyk and Ernie Els, the men with whom he is paired.

The three 46-year-olds were all born within nine months of each other, but Furyk and Els learned to golf at a younger age from their fathers. Cabrera, whose powerful swing drew attention from Cordoba Country Club members, relied on financial assistance from those members before he qualified for the European Tour in 1996.

Cabrera said he was looking forward to the pairing, which features two fellow U.S. Open champions: Furyk won in 2003 and finished one stroke behind Cabrera in 2007, and Els has two U.S. Open titles, including one in 1994 at Oakmont.

Maya Sweedler: msweedler@post-gazette.com.