With the PGA Grand Slam less than a week away, The Royal Gazette takes a look at the four major winners who will be coming to the Island for the two-day shoot-out at Port Royal Golf Course

Angel Cabrera

This year's Masters champion is no stranger to Bermuda.

The Argentina golfer appeared in the first Grand Slam to be played on the Island in 2007, after having won the US Open, the first major victory of his career.

That same year Cabrera became the inaugural winner of the 'pink jacket' when he beat Irishman Padraig Harrington in a play-off at Mid Ocean Club.

Cabrera added the more coveted Green Jacket to his collection this year, confirming himself as one of the best 'grinders' in the game in the process after he outlasted Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell to win a three-way play-off.

The Argentine's Augusta heroics added yet another line to his growing résumé. He joins Gary Player as the only foreign-born player to win the Masters and the US Open.

"When they put the Green Jacket on, I had goose bumps," said Cabrera. "I was shaking. I can't even explain what was going through my body."

The triumph capped a rag-to-riches tale that even Hollywood might consider too improbable for film.

Brought up by his paternal grandmother, Cabrera's boyhood home was on a quiet dirt road in Mendiolaza, a barrio near Cordoba, Argentina.

When he was 10 year-old, Cabrera found his life's vocation. Just 10 blocks uphill from his grandmother's home was Cordoba Country Club.

He began caddying, making 25 pesos per loop, which translates today to nearly two dollars.

It was a wage that sustained him. He dropped out of school in the sixth grade to caddie full-time.

"I was very lucky because hanging out at a golf course was much better than being on the streets," said Cabrera. "Golf taught me a great deal. I grew up surrounded by people who were professionals – lawyers, doctors, engineers.

"Around them I learned how to behave, speak, eat, and dress. I had nothing at home. The club was my home."

Every Monday, when the club closed, the caddies took over and had their own competitions. This is when Cabrera learned to play golf.

His talent grew steadily, as did his fierce competitiveness and ingrained penchant to work relentlessly to achieve success.

Cordoba Country Club members financed Cabrera's debut into competitive golf, and at age 19 he turned professional, and in 1999 he joined the European Tour.

One of the longest hitters on the Tour, Cabrera is also well known for a strong short game, and an ability to make clutch putts. His all-round game should make him the favourite to win next week.

Stewart Cink

In a year when all the talk surrounding the majors was about the losers, Stewart Cink was the pantomine villain of the British Open.

Winning the trophy in a play-off following Tom Watson's much-publicised missed putt on the final hole, Cink won an event almost everyone wanted to see someone else win.

It seems unfair on Cink that whenever the Open is talked about in the future it will be about the fairytale that never was.

The jokes started soon after Cink had won, with the golfer reading out a David Letterman top ten list where the number one was 'Even I was rooting for Tom Watson'.

And yet Cink's story for the year is just as telling because up until his Open win there had been nothing in Cink's game to suggest he was capable of such a feat.

"I had pretty much written off 2009, I was playing so poorly," he said.

Things changed though in Scotland, when a switch to a different putter, and change in routine gave him a calmness for Sunday's final round he described as quite unique.

And while the crowd willed Watson on, Cink slowly went about his business. He was also the only player among those within five strokes of the lead to break par in the final round,posting a one-under 69 that featured four back-nine birdies.

He took the clubhouse lead with a 12-foot putt at the last, and the rest is history.

Lucas Glover

A 250-1 outsider at the start of the US Open there is a story about Glover's build-up to this year's tournament at Bethpage that sums up the young golfers work ethic.

The story goes that early on the Thursday morning, before the first round, PGA officials arriving at the course spotted a lone golfer at the practice range.

It turned out to be Lucas Glover, who along with his caddie, had been at the range from the crack of dawn hitting ball, after ball, after ball.

The discipline that Glover showed that day had been installed into him by Dick Harmon, brother of Tiger Woods' coach Bruce, and one of the premier coaches in the US.

The pair were introduced when Glover was just 12 by his grandfather Dick Hendley, who helped raise Glover for much of his childhood.

Between them, Hendley, a former Clemson University football player, and Harmon, instilled the skills and mental capabilities that would eventually see Glover claim a major as only his second win as a Tour professional.

Still, the man that won this year's US Open was far removed from the one that turned professional in 2001.

A player with a much talked about attitude problem, Glover struggled to contain himself when he made mistakes in his early career.

Known on the Tour for letting even the slightest error get to him, Glover took four months off after a summer of poor performances last year to work on his patience.

It worked. Returning to competition in February, Glover finished in a tie for third at the Buick Invitational. Then in May he finished shared runner-up at the Quail Hollow Championship. As the US Open approached, Glover was at peace with himself and his game.

He began the Open with a double bogey, yet stunned the golf world. On his march to victory, Glover doused the hopes of final-round challengers Phil Mickelson, David Duval and Ricky Barnes.

Glover accomplished the improbable mission despite never having made a cut in three previous Opens.

Stepping to the 16th tee in the final round, Glover was four over for the day without a birdie. He hit his approach shot to within six feet of the hole and made the putt to take a lead he would not relinquish. After sinking a three-foot par putt on 18, Glover eased home for a two-stroke victory.

Yang Yong-eun

The man who tamed the Tiger is one of a kind.

No other Asian player has ever won a major, and Yang did it by beating the best golfer the world has ever known.

Arguably the most dramatic finish of the four majors this year, for its unpredicability if nothing else, Yang's PGA Championship win was also the biggest comeback in the event's history.

The South Korean was nine shots off the pace mid-way through the second round, and Woods had never lost a major when leading after 54 holes.

Yang, though, displayed a mental toughness developed through years of teaching himself the game.

Much like Cabrera, Yang's humble beginnings didn't see him start to play golf until the age of 19 when a family friend allowed him to work at a driving range.

He taught himself how to play after picking up a club at the range and studying the movements of players who visited his golf club.

After his mandatory military service, Yang turned professional in 1996, the same year as Woods, and announced himself on the European Tour ten years later when he beat Woods to win the HSBC Championship.

Yang entered the PGA Championship ranked 110th in the world and walked away No. 34.