There was the Basque legend Arnaud Massy, the only Frenchman to date to have won a Major, the British Open, in 1907… 117 years later, another son of the South-West, born in Toulouse before growing up in Bordeaux , made history this Saturday. Winner of the Farmers Insurance Open in California, Matthieu Pavon became the first Habs of the modern era to win on the North American PGA circuit.
Son of a golf teacher and a former professional football player and coach (Michel Pavon, who played for TFC, Bordeaux and Montpellier), Matthieu may be a child of the ball, but his star was not destined to shine so brightly. “As an amateur, I was 800th in the world, no one cared about me,” recalled the 31-year-old champion in a press conference relayed by AFP, after having tamed the legendary Torrey Pines track in San Diego, including the name is a little more dreamy for lovers of greens and fairways than the “naming” of the tournament it hosts.
After seven years on the European Tour, Pavon finally won a tournament, the Spanish Open, last October. The sequel could inspire a film titled When you’re unblocked, let me know, if one didn’t already exist. “It proved to me that I was capable of doing great things, it gave me a lot of confidence. And then, since my qualification for the PGA obtained in Dubai [en novembre] I’m on cloud nine. » Now based in the United States, the “Frenchie” touched the Holy Grail for his third tournament of the year.
“The feeling of being half American”
It is “historic for French golf”, recalled, without false modesty, the man who is living his American dream, which he had already tasted as a teenager, during training in West Palm, Florida. “I love everything about America, the mentality, the sport, I have the impression of being half-American,” he also said, on the verge of wearing a stetson. I had almost no pressure coming here, I was just trying to give my best. »
On Saturday, Matthieu Pavon returned a card of 69 (3 under par) for a total of 275, one stroke less than the Dane Nicolai Hojgaard and two less than the German Stephan Jaeger and the Americans Jake Knapp and Nate Lashley . The Girondin, second before the last day one shot behind Jaeger, turned everything around in a finish worthy of Hollywood, between magnificent shots and an untimely bogey on the 17th hole, followed by a passage through the rough which did not prevent him from sign a saving birdie on the last hole.
This time, it’s certain, Matthieu is no longer just “Michel’s son”, as we could call him with a hint of condescension in his youth, when he kicked the ball in the colors of the Girondins. “Team sports were not made for me”, underlined the one who salutes the “source of inspiration” constituted by his family, guarantor of “great values”. America, always.
The hero of the weekend, however, does not forget his compatriot (also exiled in the States) Céline Boutier, “who won the LPGA at Evian last year, an even greater performance”. Nor his native land, while the Olympic Games at home are looming on the horizon. It’s “really one of my goals this year, to qualify to represent my country in Paris.” “Looks like I’m off to a good start now!” “, he joked. “Cokarico”, or rather “Cock-a-doodle-doo”, as they say in the language of Shakespeare and Tiger Woods.