Not once, not twice, but three times Matthieu Pavon repeated in his appearance before the journalists after winning the Farmers Insurance Open that his best position in the world amateur ranking was something like the 800th. This has been his way of telling the world that with enthusiasm, work, a lot of work, a lot of work, and the right team around you, you can achieve many things. In his case, a dream that seemed impossible just eleven years ago, when he seriously debated with himself whether it was worth continuing to play golf. A dream that also seemed impossible just over two months ago, with more than 180 tournaments of the DP World Tour behind him and zero victories.
It was Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid, who coined the term Zidanes and Pavones to refer to an era in the history of the merengue club, early years of the 21st century, where the philosophy was to mix in the squad the galactics (Zidane, Ronaldo, Figo, Beckham) with the pavones, middle-class players from the Madrid academy. For Florentino, it was the recipe for success. If we transfer this theory to golf, there is no doubt that Pavon, Matthieu Pavon, belonged to the group of Pavones.
Pavon was never a great amateur golfer. He never exceeded the 800th position in the world nor was he part of the national teams of France. He did not fully dedicate himself to golf until he was 16 years old. Before, he tried to be a footballer, like his father, and he was not bad, warns the Frenchman, although he ended up leaving it tired of the odious family comparisons (Michel became champion of France and played, among others, in the Real Betis) and the lack of discipline of his teammates. “I was fit, I took care of myself, I was orderly and I hated losing because my teammates went out late, drank and did not prepare. It was then when I realized that team sport was not for me, I preferred an individual sport, where everything depended on me”, Matthieu explains.
At this point, Pavon went from burning the VHS tape where his father’s best moments as a footballer were to sticking to his mother, a golf instructor, and spending the days from sunrise to sunset on the practice course. He started late and had dreams, of course he had dreams, but his expectations were always low. Yes, he was growing, but he did not attract attention. “Nobody paid attention to me, but it was normal because of my results”, he explains.
He turned professional in 2013 and took two years to play his first tournament valid for the world ranking. He did not win in the Alps, nor in the Challenge, but he was growing step by step, with a lot of effort, a lot of enthusiasm, a huge faith and zero expectations. Can you imagine that one day I play the Masters? It was not a conviction, a desire, it was rather a daydream. As if Paco Pavón, a Madrid academy defender, leader of that philosophy, had thought one day about scoring the decisive golf in a Champions Final. No, Zidane was there for that.
However, one fine day Pavon became Zidane and, of course, it had to be in Madrid, where else. The stage, however, was not the Santiago Bernabéu, but the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. “There I realized that I could do great things. The Open de España showed me, where I won from start to finish”, explained the Frenchman, grandson of a Spaniard, yesterday at Torrey Pines, scene by the way of the explosion of Jon Rahm, in case Matthieu’s connections with our country and our sport were missing.
That Sunday in October 2023 the transformation took place. Matthieu, French, became Zidane. Then came the four consecutive birdies to finish the Final in Dubai and thus get the card for the PGA Tour. And a little later has come, in his third tournament with the American card, his first victory on the other side of the Atlantic. The first triumph of France. “I hope that in some way this also serves as inspiration for other French golfers”, he points out.
He is a Zidane who will never forget that one day he was Pavon. That is the key to success, knowing where you come from to value what you achieve. Matthieu is clear about it. That’s why his yardage books are full of phrases that remind him how important it is to have faith, sacrifice and work. They are motivational phrases that help him return to the present. “In the first six holes of the final round of the Farmers I think I read them about a hundred times…”, he points out.
All this has forged a tough and almost unbreakable character that was revealed yesterday in the third shot of the 18th hole. His caddie recommended him to shoot to the center of the green and sign two putts that, surely, assured him the playoff with Nicolai Hojgaard. Matthieu did not agree. He wanted to play it. “The ball was not as horrible as it seemed. I thought I could hit that shot and give myself a birdie option. It was possible. I knew it was time to show that I had the guts to finish the job. And I did”, he concludes.
Only Zidane would think of putting his leg at the height of his head in parallel to the ground to hit a shot in the corner in the Champions Final. Only Zidane would think of hitting that third shot to achieve France’s first victory on the PGA Tour.
