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Big-hitting Nienaber falters at the finish to settle for secondwhile former Abu Dhabi resident David Horsey takes the third spot at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club
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How Dubai helped Frenchman Matthieu Pavon’s remarkable transformation
The journeyman credits ‘hard world and self-belief’ that earned him a precious dual membership card for both the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour
Frenchman Matthieu Pavon, winner of the 2023 Spanish Open on the DP World Tour. - Supplied photo
It all began on the 15th tee in the final round of the 2023 DP World Tour Championship on the Jumeirah Golf Estates’s Earth course.
French golfer Matthieu Pavon fired four consecutive birdies to lift himself to tied fifth in the tournament as he drew level with Spain’s Jon Rahm to finish four shots behind the champion Nicolai Hojgaard from Denmark.
This elevated him to 15th in the season-long Race to Dubai Rankings and he became the eighth player without any PGA Tour status.
Under the new regulations, this gave Pavon a precious dual membership card for both the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour.
What happened next is nothing short of remarkable.
Matthieu Pavon plays a shot from a bunker at THE PLAYERS Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on, Florida. - AFP
In late January 2024, he won the $9 million Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines on the PGA Tour, becoming the first-ever Frenchman to win on the PGA Tour since World War.
Pavon, who now proudly stands 24th in the OWGR, and sixth in The FedEx Cup Standings, has already booked his spot at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he representing France, his home country.
He is now the eighth-highest European golfer in the World Rankings.
Pavon, 31 years old, is a fine example of how golf careers can change overnight. As recently as September, last year he was 225th in the OWGR.
Arguably, a genuine journeyman from a sporting family, he turned professional at the age of 20, when ranked 890th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR). Having not gone the traditional National Team route, he graduated through the Alps Tour, Challenge Tour and then the DP World Tour and PGA Tour.
His sole win on the DP World Tour was in late 2023 at the Spanish Open.
Pavon said after his PGA Tour win: “It's just hard work and belief. If you believe that you're capable of doing it, you can do it. I had almost no pressure coming, playing in America.
Matthieu Pavon of France in action at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. - AFP
“It's like it's just an opportunity. If I fail, I could just go back to Europe and start again. So, it was just like trying to do your best every day, enjoy every moment,” he added.
Pavon now has his PGA Tour privileges through 2026, with exemptions and playing opportunities all over the world, including to The Masters next week.
Golf is a game of opportunities, whether it is in amateur golf, or any of the Development Tours up to the world’s biggest events.
He has played in just four Majors to date, and never in The Masters.
He can now plan a global schedule as he did recently, playing in the Porsche Singapore Open on the DP World Tour.
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We wish him well and congratulate him on all his hard work and achievements to date. He must also be an inspiration to so many golfers all over the world who continue to strive, work hard and follow their dreams. The game is full of small margins and those that achieve success should be applauded.
We must all remember it all started not so long ago in Dubai on that 15th tee back in November.
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