Matthieu Pavon (born 2 November 1992) is a French professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the European Tour. With his victory at the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open, Pavon became the first French golfer to win on the PGA Tour since 1907.
| Matthieu Pavon | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Born | 2 November 1992 Toulouse, France |
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Weight | 85 kg (187 lb; 13.4 st) |
| Sporting nationality |  France |
| Residence | Médoc, France |
| Career | |
| Turned professional | 2013 |
| Current tour(s) | PGA Tour European Tour |
| Former tour(s) | Challenge Tour Alps Tour |
| Professional wins | 6 |
| Highest ranking | 20 (5 May 2024)[1] (as of 17 November 2024) |
| Number of wins by tour | |
| PGA Tour | 1 |
| European Tour | 1 |
| Other | 4 |
| Best results in major championships | |
| Masters Tournament | T12: 2024 |
| PGA Championship | CUT: 2024 |
| U.S. Open | 5th: 2024 |
| The Open Championship | T50: 2024 |
Professional career
editAfter turning professional Pavon played on the Alps Tour in 2014 and 2015. He won the Open International de Rebetz in 2014 and the Servizitalia Open in 2015.[2] He reached the final stage of the 2015 European Tour Q School and gained a place on the Challenge Tour for 2016.[3]
Pavon didn't win on the 2016 Challenge Tour but he finished in second place three times: at the Turkish Airlines Challenge, Montecchia Golf Open and Foshan Open.[4][5][6] He was joint third in the NBO Golf Classic Grand Final and finished sixth on the Road To Oman Rankings to earn his 2017 European Tour card.[3][7][8]
Pavon's first season on the European Tour was moderately successful and he finished 49th in the Order of Merit. His best result was to finish second in the 2018 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open at Anahita after a final round 67. He finished third in the 2017 Scottish Open. The tournament was one of the Open Qualifying Series events and his high finish gave him an entry to the 2017 Open Championship the following week. He had rounds of 74 and 78 and missed the cut.
Pavon had less success on the 2018 European Tour, finishing the season 89th in the Order of Merit. He finished tied for 5th in the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open at the end of 2017 but his only other top-10 finish was in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. He qualified for his first U.S. Open. He started with a 71 and made the cut, despite a second round 77, finishing in a tie for 25th place.
In October 2023, Pavon won his first European Tour event at the Acciona Open de España. He recorded a total of 261 (23-under-par) to win wire-to-wire by four shots.[9] He finished the 2023 European Tour season in 15th place on the Race to Dubai, earning him PGA Tour membership for the 2024 season.[10]
In January 2024, he won the Farmers Insurance Open by one stroke over Nicolai Højgaard. With this win, he became the first Frenchman to win on the PGA Tour since Arnaud Massy won the 1907 Open Championship (later recognised as a PGA Tour victory).[11][12] In February, he finished third at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California. He earned $1.36m in prize money and finished at −15, 2 strokes behind the winner Wyndham Clark.
Personal life
editHis father is French former professional footballer Michel Pavon.[13]
Professional wins (6)
editPGA Tour wins (1)
edit| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 Jan 2024 | Farmers Insurance Open | −13 (69-65-72-69=275) | 1 stroke |  Nicolai Højgaard
|
European Tour wins (1)
edit| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 Oct 2023 | Acciona Open de España | −23 (63-68-66-64=261) | 4 strokes |  Zander Lombard
|
Alps Tour wins (2)
edit| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 May 2014 | Open International de Rebetz | −7 (70-69-70=209) | 1 stroke | Baptiste Chapellan, Thomas Elissalde
|
| 2 | 17 Jul 2015 | Servizitalia Open | −17 (66-68-65=199) | Playoff |  Gerard Piris
|
French Tour wins (2)
edit| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 Apr 2018 | Open Mont de Marsan | −9 (67-69-68=204) | 4 strokes | Guillaume Cambis, Louis Cohen-Boyer
|
| 2 | 10 Dec 2023 | Internationaux de France Professionnels de Double (with Julien Quesne)
|
−18 (63-68-67=198) | 2 strokes |  Axel de Smet and Christopher Mivis
|
Results in major championships
edit| Tournament | 2017 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | ||
| U.S. Open | T25 | |
| The Open Championship | CUT | |
| PGA Championship |
| Tournament | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | T12 | |||||
| PGA Championship | CUT | |||||
| U.S. Open | CUT | CUT | 5 | |||
| The Open Championship | NT | T50 |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = no tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Week 18 2024 Ending 5 May 2024" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
- ^ "Gerard Piris rozó el título en Italia". Larazon.es (in Spanish). 20 July 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
- ^ a b "Matthieu Pavon". European Tour. 28 January 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ "Turkish Airlines Challenge : Clément Sordet titré, trois Français dans le top 10". Lequipe.fr (in French). 8 May 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
- ^ "Gary King roi d'Italie, Pavon 2e au Montecchia Open". Fr.b2.mk (in French). 15 May 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
- ^ "Foshan Open : Armitage titré, Pavon échoue à un coup". Lequipe.fr (in French). 23 October 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
- ^ Bantock, Jack (2 February 2024). "Matthieu Pavon: His mother buried a coin by a tree at Augusta as a good luck charm for her son. This is what happened next". CNN. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ "Recap: the final day of the 2016 Road to Oman". European Tour. 6 November 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ "Open de Espana: Matthieu Pavon wins first DP World Tour title as Jon Rahm finishes ninth". Sky Sports. 16 October 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
- ^ Roberts, Andy (19 November 2023). "Which 10 DP World Tour players have earned PGA Tour cards". GolfMagic. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
- ^ Hirsh, Jack (27 January 2024). "Matthieu Pavon hangs on for first PGA Tour win at Farmers Insurance Open". Golf Magazine. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
- ^ Hodowanic, Paul (28 January 2024). "Matthieu Pavon defies expectations, makes PGA Tour history at Farmers Insurance Open". PGA Tour. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
- ^ "Matthieu Pavon secured maiden win". Alps Tour. 3 May 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
External links
edit- Matthieu Pavon at the European Tour official site
- Matthieu Pavon at the Official World Golf Ranking official site