WiretoWire: Matthieu Pavon enjoys walk-off win at Torrey Pines

France's Matthieu Pavon wins Farmers Insurance Open

In just his third start as a PGA TOUR member, Matthieu Pavon is a PGA TOUR winner. The Frenchman entered the winner’s circle in dramatic fashion at the Farmers Insurance Open, draining an 8-foot birdie on the 72nd hole at Torrey Pines’ South Course for a one-stroke victory over Nicolai Højgaard. Pavon carded a final-round, 3-under 69 outside San Diego to finish at 13-under 275, rebounding from a missed 3-foot par putt at the 17th hole to finish with a flourish, muscling a 145-yard third shot from thick rough on the par-5 18th to makeable range; he didn’t miss a beat. Pavon becomes the first Frenchman to win on TOUR since Arnaud Massy at The Open in 1907, quickly acclimating to this stage after earning dual TOUR membership via the 2023 DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai. Last fall, Pavon made four consecutive closing birdies at the DP World Tour Championship to secure that status, and the affable 31-year-old proved again this week that he can deliver under the brightest lights. Now he’s exempt into 2024’s remaining Signature Events, including next week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and has secured a TOUR card through 2026. “I finally got a shot and I took it,” Pavon said. “I mean, it's a dream come true and it's a little bit hard to believe.” Why stop now?

Pebble Beach Bound

The PGA TOUR returns to the golf paradise of Pebble Beach Golf Links for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The second Signature Event of the season will feature an 80-man field including world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and reigning FedExCup champion Viktor Hovland. Four past champions of the event will be teeing it up: Jordan Spieth (2017), Nick Taylor (2020), Tom Hoge (2022) and defending champion Justin Rose. Nick Dunlap will be making his first start as a PGA TOUR member after winning The American Express and accepting PGA TOUR membership. Matthieu Pavon, Grayson Murray, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Kevin Yu and Stephan Jaeger will compete at Pebble Beach Golf Links as the top five in the Aon Swing 5. Ludvig Åberg is among the 10 players in the field who earned their spot in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational by way of the Aon Next 10. Other notables include Rory McIlroy, Max Homa and Patrick Cantlay. The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am will use a two-course rotation playing at Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill. Former NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady and Alex Smit along with NFL wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald will enter as amateurs. Ex-San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey and former NBA forward-center Pau Gasol also represent the group of former athletes participating. The 80 golfers will be competing for a share of the $20 million purse and the winner at Pebble Beach will take home 700 FedExCup points.

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Mic Check

“We have already a big champion in Céline Boutier, she won the Evian Championship last year... She's a true champion, so I'm just trying to step in and copy her. She has a major, so let's dream about it now." – Matthieu Pavon on what his victory means for growing the game in France.

By the Numbers

5 – Five spots at next week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am were finalized Saturday via the Aon Swing 5 after the dust settled on a wild afternoon at the Farmers Insurance Open.

37 – With a T37 finish at the Farmers Insurance Open, Maverick McNealy fulfilled a Major Medical Extension which will allow him to play out of an exempt category for the remainder of the 2024 PGA TOUR season.

74 – With a final-round 74 on Sunday, Los Angeles native Michael Herrera won the APGA Farmers Insurance Invitational by a one-stroke victory margin.