PINEHURST, N.C. (KeynoteUSA) — In the final pair, three shots off the lead and within reach of his first major title, Matthieu Pavon found himself in a completely new position on the final day of the U.S. Open.
It ended with the best possible vantage point as Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy dueled for the win.
However, the Frenchman, who will play in his country’s Olympic Games in Paris next month, managed to shoot a clean 1-over 71 on Sunday to tie for fifth place, his best finish in a major. He finished at 3 under par on the tricky Pinehurst No. 2, a strong performance for a player who arrived in the hills of North Carolina with a lot of confidence.
“I enjoyed every moment on the golf course,” Pavón said.
Everyone else did too, just as DeChambeau and McIlroy were doing. The big hitter DeChambeau made a spectacular up-and-under at the 18th, shortly after McIlroy missed two short putts on his final three holes, and finished at 6 under par to win his second US Open title. McIlroy finished one shot back to extend his decade-long major league drought.
“Even though you see Rory starting off like a bomb and Bryson doing Bryson things, let’s say, I always try to stick to my game plan, stick to the things I know I have to do,” Pavón said. “And down the stretch, my game got better and better.
“I had great birdie opportunities, birdie positions and made one or two great putts. Overall, it was a super enjoyable week.”
At the very least, it was a welcome change of trajectory from a few memorable months.
Pavón earned his first European Tour victory at the Spanish Open in October and then closed with four consecutive birdies at the DP World Championship in Dubai to earn his PGA Tour card. And in January, he became the first French player since World War II to win a PGA Tour event when he closed with a birdie to win at Torrey Pines.
But he missed the cut at last month’s PGA Championship and last week’s Memorial. He felt exhausted. So, he concentrated on trying to raise his energy level. He also worked to put trainer Jon Karlsen through some adjustments to his approach to the greens before arriving here.
The approach worked. On Thursday he became the first player to have multiple eagles (two) in a US Open round at Pinehurst No. 2 and shot 67. He followed with a 70 and 69, placing him alongside DeChambeau in the spotlight of the final pair.
“It’s an incredible journey,” Pavón said. “This really shows that in golf you can go very fast in one direction and very fast in the other as well. But it’s just the work I’ve done with my team. We work with everyone. “I have a good group of people around me, very positive people, very hard-working people.”
It might also have helped on Sunday, when momentum hit a dead end.
He opened with a bogey when his 8-foot par putt hit the left lip and refused to come down. He bounced back by making a 10-footer at the third for birdie, but followed that up with three bogeys on the next nine holes to fall off the pace.
Pavón birdied the par-4 13th hole, then followed up with a fantastic tee shot to 5 feet on the 15th hole and made the birdie putt to get to 3 under par. There he finished.
Meanwhile, he played in front of a crowd that grew with enthusiasm as DeChambeau and McIlroy traded the lead and carried the drama to the 18th green, with DeChambeau hitting his winning par putt and then signaling to the crowd to pause the cheering so Pavón could finish. with your own pair.
“We know that in a season you are going to have ups and downs,” Pavón said. “I had pretty big drops in the last three weeks. I missed the cuts. “It wasn’t easy, but I always tried to keep things as simple as possible.”
And now?
“One week, one good feeling and suddenly you feel like you can win almost any tournament,” he said.
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