A green jacket and gold putter for Cabrera

Tiger Woods has his Sunday red. Angel Cabrera prefers yellow.

Cabrera wore the same color shirt when he won the US Open two years ago, and it was his color of choice when he won his two biggest tournaments on the European Tour - the Benson & Hedges in 2002 and the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in 2005.

It blended nicely with Masters Green, the official color of the jacket at Augusta National.

But with green also comes gold.

Ping Golf, which has sponsored the Argentine for 15 years, has a tradition of giving a solid gold version of the putter used in major championship victories. This will be Cabrera's second gold putter.

Ping founder Karsten Solheim long ago built a vault to store gold-plated replicas of every putter used in a tour victory, with the player also getting a gold-plated putter.

When his son, John Solheim, took over as president in 1995, he put his own touch on tradition by awarding every major champion (male and female) a solid gold putter.

Ping spokesman Pete Samuels said the cost depends on the type of putter.

As for shipping costs?

"We usually hand deliver those," he said with a laugh.

That Cabrera would get a solid gold putter only makes sense for his Masters victory.

Asked about the key shot that won him the US Open, Cabrera was adamant that it was his driver, particularly the tee shot on the 18th hole at Oakmont that set up a safe par on a daunting hole.

He won by one shot over Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk.

Augusta National has its own tradition of asking the Masters champion to donate one club he found the most significant in victory.

"It has to be the putter," said his caddie, Ruben "Gordo" Yorio.

Cabrera got into the playoff with a nervy 4-footer on the 18th hole, then made an 8-footer to save par on the 18th again to stay alive in the playoff.

Easily overlooked is the putt that made all this possible - an 18-footer for birdie on No 16 after Kenny Perry nearly made a hole-in-one to seemingly take control of the Masters.

TIGER PERSPECTIVE

Jack Nicklaus (six Masters titles) and Arnold Palmer (four) played a practice round at Augusta National in 1996 with 20-year-old Tiger Woods and predicted that he would win more green jackets than both of them combined.

Woods won four times in nine years, but now has gone four years without winning the Masters, the longest drought of his career.

What does that mean? Not much.

Nicklaus won the Masters three times in his five years, then went five years before he won his fourth green jacket. He had five Masters after his 14th year as a pro (Woods is in his 13th year).

Woods is still on track to break Nicklaus's record at Augusta National, but that prediction of ten is not looking as good as it once did.

LEE TURNS PRO

It was clear the way an agent was barking out instructions for Danny Lee's final interview at the Masters, but it became official on Tuesday when the US Amateur champion from New Zealand announced he was turning pro and signed with IMG.

Along with becoming the youngest US Amateur champion in history, the 18-year-old Lee also became the youngest winner on the European Tour when he captured the Johnnie Walker Classic in February against a field that included Anthony Kim and Camilo Villegas.

"I'm very proud of what I accomplished as an amateur, but it felt like the time was right to challenge myself at a higher level," he said.

Lee will make his pro debut next week at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans.

By turning pro, he is giving up his exemptions to the US Open and British Open. Now, he has to qualify for the next two majors.

Lee is allowed seven sponsor exemptions to earn enough money to avoid Q-school. He also plans to play at Quail Hollow, the Byron Nelson Championship, Colonial, the Memorial and the AT&T National.

MEMORIAL SKINS

For players who believe the best pro-ams on the US PGA Tour have only two amateurs, nothing can beat the Memorial.

Tournament host Jack Nicklaus is bringing back his "Double Skins Game" for the first time in six years to replace the pro-am.

The Double Skins Game is a nine-hole competition among two sets of four US PGA Tour players - the top six players available from last year's money list and two wild cards, one of those being Nicklaus.

The purse is $100 000 - $50 000 for each foursome, half of the money going to charity.

Players will wear microphones so fans can listen to the banter in each group.

"I've always enjoyed the skins format, whether as a competitor or an observer, and this year we hope folks in central Ohio will have fun watching this unique competition," Nicklaus said.

Among those expected to play include defending champion Kenny Perry and three-time major winner Padraig Harrington.

Also likely to play is Tiger Woods, who has missed the Memorial only when he was recovering from knee surgery or coping with his father's death.

BOO'S HAT-TRICK

Boo Weekley is the two-time defending champion at the Verizon Heritage this week at Hilton Head, the only event he has won on the US PGA Tour.

If he were to win this week, Weekley would join some obscure company.

According to Dave Lancer of the US PGA Tour, the last player to make the same tournament his first three victories on the tour was Leonard Gullett, who captured the Wisconsin PGA in 1929, 1933 and 1934.

That doesn't include winners of the majors before the U.S. PGA was formed in 1916.

DIVOTS

* Phil Mickelson finished one shot ahead of Tiger Woods at the Masters, the first time he had done that in a major since the 2006 US Open.

* The first Ryder Cup points for the US team were awarded at the Masters, with Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell each receiving 660 points.

Points are awarded only at majors this year for the 2010 team.

Perry and Campbell received what is comparable to a runner-up finish on the US PGA Tour next year.

STAT

Angel Cabrera joined Gary Player as the only foreign-born players to win the Masters and US Open.

By Doug Ferguson, Sapa-AP