Angel Cabrera does not walk into a room. He enters. All 15 stone of him - a waddling rebuke to the perceived necessity for fitness and conditioning in modern sport.
Yet it is not just the imposing frame of El Pato The Duck' which commands attention. Cabrera is now a major championship winner. His victory in last month's US Open marked a watershed not only for himself but also the profile of golf in his home country of Argentina. He has now become a sporting icon, a hero to thousands.
Today he tees of at Loch Lomond, in the Barclays Scottish Open. For Cabrera, it is the aperitif before the main course. Attempting to equal the feat of his countryman, Eduardo Romero - who won at Loch Lomond in 2002 and then claimed he was going to "buy Argentina" with the winnings - will prove an interesting diversion, but it is next week's British Open Championship at Carnoustie which is firmly in his sights.
The experience of securing one major has had an intoxicating effect on the Argentinian, who had shown a capacity for final round frailties before his win at Oakmont. There, he beat Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk down the stretch to become the first Argentinian golfer to win the US Open and the first to win a major in the US.
"Mentally it gives me a lot of confidence," he reflected yesterday. "I know that I can beat the best players in the world and that I can win major championships. I feel that I could win the Open Championship on certain golf courses and I think I have a chance to win at Carnoustie.
"The good thing about having won a major is, now, I know that I'm capable of winning one and, you know, maybe others will come. Having won one takes away some of the burden. I'm going to the British Open with one less burden, so it makes it easier for me. It's a tough course. If you play badly, you're going to shoot over par, and the weather conditions are going to play a factor."
After his win at Oakmont, Cabrera claimed he would still be second in sports coverage at home to Manu Ginobili, the guard who helped lead the San Antonio Spurs to the NBA title.
But on his return home to Cordoba last month, he was escorted from the airport by a motorcade of over 100 cars. Schools, restaurants and shops closed in the northern Argentine town and golf even replaced the national football team in the public's affections for a while as Cabrera found himself invited to meet the President of Argentina.
Despite all the adulation, Cabrera will always remember his humble origins and while some players have an entourage of coaches and sports psychologists, Cabrera is gloriously free of such hangers-on. "Some players have psychologists. I smoke," he memorably reflected.
He has never had formal tuition and his support team consists of his caddie, and manager, Manuel Tagle, a childhood friend. In Cabrera's case, less has proved more. Watch our online video coverage
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