2024-02-03 08:50:22
Playing four weeks in a row on the PGA Tour is not common. Remaining efficient over this period while we discover the American circuit is even less so. However, with confidence helping, Matthieu Pavon and his absolutely prodigious little game continue to amaze everyone. Winner at Torrey Pines at the Farmers Insurance Open, the Toulouse native is once once more at the top of the leaderboard at Pebble Beach where the field is this time full of all the big names of the PGA, unlike last week.
After an almost absolutely clean opening 65 at Pebble Beach, Matthieu Pavon had to battle in the wind on the Spyglass Hill Course, the tournament being played on two courses during the first two rounds. Starting from 10, the Frenchman fought on the first leg (two birdies, two bogeys) before his first real error of the week at 18 (9 for him). The double bogey conceded was masterfully compensated by a velvet return (4 birdies). Enough to find yourself in the running for the win with two shots from Ludvig Aberg (65 Friday), Thomas Detry (already his direct competitor at Farmers) and Scottie Scheffler (64, best card of the day).
“I stuck with it, with patience, a good attitude”
A few weeks ago, this ranking would have deserved a photo because it would have appeared so incredible. It now seems almost normal as Matthieu Pavon shows himself to be solid, even if one of the sectors of play let him down a little in this second round, contested alongside Pascal Grizot (president of the federation) in a Pro-AM formula .
“It was a special day, I got off to a bad start,” analyzes the Frenchman. My driving was a little light to score lower. I hung on, with patience, a good attitude. I’m really happy with these four birdies on the return which allow me to beat the course once more. We will have to rest well to face a weekend which does not look easy given the forecasted weather. You’ll have to know how to take hits to do your best. »
In a tournament without cut which brings together 80 fine blades, 17 players stand in four moves. Patrick Cantlay (-10) is just in front of the tricolor, Emmanuel Grillo and Justin Thomas are alongside him (-9). If Viktor Hovland is behind for the moment (44th, -3), Rory McIlroy exploded in the second round (74), making big gaps on approaches that seemed without huge difficulty (64th, +1). He finds himself far from Matthieu Pavon. Writing this kind of sentence at the start of 2024 was really not a given last November…
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