Matthieu Pavon reacts to becoming the first Frenchman to win on the Tour in over a century - “I can’t thank the PGA Tour enough”

Matthieu Pavon won the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course on Saturday. The 31-year-old carded a 3-under 69 in the final round to finish at 13 under. He registered a one-shot lead over Nicolai Hojgaard (70) to become the first Frenchman to win on the Tour since 1907 when Arnaud Massy won The Open.

Pavon beat the likes of Nate Lashley (67), Jake Knapp (69) and 54-hole leader Stephan Jaeger (72) to take the Farmers Insurance Open trophy. After making his final putt, the golfer from Toulouse raised his arms in celebration and hugged caddie Mark Sherwood. Reflecting on his achievement, the PGA Tour rookie said it was ‘big for his country’ and he hopes that it will inspire more people to take up golf.

Speaking to the media after his 2024 Farmers Insurance Open win, Matthieu Pavon said, as quoted by Golfweek:

“It is big for our country. I hope it will inspire a lot of people, because coming from an amateur player which is 800 in the world to a PGA Tour winner is pretty big…

Yeah, I still can’t believe it. As I said, it feels like there is another round to play tomorrow because we’re only Saturday. That is special. I can’t thank the PGA tour enough to give us the opportunity to come from Europe and compete here in America against the best players in the world. That’s always been the dream for me. I got finally a shot and I took it. I mean, it’s a dream come true and it’s a little bit hard to believe.”

It is pertinent to note that Pavon almost quit pro golfing 10 years ago due to the yips. However, he pushed through and has now etched his name in the PGA Tour record books.

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Will Matthieu Pavon play at the 2024 Paris Olympics?

Pavon is ranked No. 78 in the Official World Golf Rankings. Notably, the win at Torrey Pines will see the golfer leap over 30 spots in the rankings. Owing to this, Pavon will now be in the ideal position to represent France at the upcoming Paris Olympics.

Reacting to the possibility of playing the Summer Olympics later this year, Matthieu Pavon said:

“Yeah, that’s big. Olympics is huge. Since I’m kid I’m watching it. I have a good friend of mine, Julien Quesne, was my mentor and is still my mentor to be fair, he did that Olympics in Rio and told me how cool was it. Yeah, it’s definitely one of my goals this year to qualify and represent my country in Paris. Looks like I’m on a pretty good shot right now.”

Apart from the OWGR jump, the Farmers Insurance Open win also qualifies Matthieu Pavon for the 2024 Masters. The Frenchman, who won $1,620,000 from the event’s $9 million purse, is now eligible for next week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am as well as other signature events.