2024-02-29 18:01:59
Matthieu Pavon negotiated his return to competition perfectly. After three weeks of rest during which he finalized his installation in the United States, took advantage of his family and continued to work, he resumed competition on Thursday, in Florida, at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, a tournament which plays on the PGA National course, a real golfing test, dear to Jack Nicklaus, with the famous “bear trap”, a succession of three holes, 15, 16, and 17 where many champions have lost balls and their illusions .
The weight of history did not disturb the French number 1 who resumed as he had finished, playing very solidly, even brilliantly at certain moments of the game, like on his penultimate hole with a remarkable approach , executed from the rough, with a ball that fell less than a meter from the hole. With a score of – 4 (4 birdies), Matthieu Pavon is provisionally placed in the top 10.
No sign of frustration
Very precise on the drive with his fade (trajectory from left to right for the ball), Matthieu Pavon – who started this first round on hole number 10 – will perhaps regret the way in which he approached the first two par 5s of the part, two holes on which it seemed rather easy to make birdies, something he did not manage to do. Winner of the Farmers Insurance Open, the Frenchman who shared his game with the Irishman Shane Lowry and the Colombian Camilo Villegas gave the impression of being relaxed, joking with his partners, and showing no sign of frustration.
We even saw him, during the warm-up, agree to answer questions from American journalists, impressed by his trajectory and his results which had been so convincing in recent months. As a reminder, since he set foot on American soil, Matthieu Pavon has still not returned a card above par. Remarkable regularity.
And as was the case during his first four tournaments of the year, he still relied on very solid putting despite greens with tortuous and vicious slopes.
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