He may be one of the worst practices of the US Open. He might as well win
Matthieu Pavon hits his tee shot Thursday on the 16th hole at Pinehurst.
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PINEHURST, NC — Let’s talk about food. It’s a French favorite, after all. and Matthieu Pavon, one of their natural sons.
“He loves his meat. He loves wine,” said his old friend and fellow Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera in April. “You know, us French, man.”
Definitely.
“We need good bread, we need a good table, we need laughter and good food,” continued Lorenzo-Vera. “And good wine. There is nothing else, to be honest.”
That’s where we go right off Pinehurst’s 17th tee, where Pavon teed off in the first round of the US Open on Thursday. He had just scored 16. It took him out of the lead. His pace seemed fast. He was boiling. He was hungry.
Wait, what?
Indeed. He took the broken, white tea that was sitting on the right side of the box, played it in his fingers for a few seconds, then put it between his lips like a cigarette. Finally, it ended up in his mouth as he stared straight ahead.
What was going on there, Matthieu? Carolina pines and their associated woods certainly smell good, but few have proven their culinary quality.
“No, no, it’s just me holding — when I’m waiting on a par-3, I usually don’t use my pins because they’re brand new,” he said afterward. “I just take the old one and put it in my mouth. So it wasn’t really anything special. It was nothing special.”
To him. And that’s probably the best thing here for him. A bogey was a bogey. They are everywhere here. Back on the horse. Back to basics. Back to his tee meal, his tee time. Things clicked again. After one minute, he took the tee out of his mouth, shoved it into place, put the ball on top of it and split. Divided 18. He posted a three-under 67 and was a few strokes out of the lead after the morning wave of the 124th US Open.
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But yes, everything was gritty, not like the day, and like Pavon.
Double eagle. He blinked once. The eagles were amazing. On the 582-yard, par-5 5th, from 241 yards out, he dropped the 5-iron to 17 feet on his way to three. On the 619-yard, par-5 10th, from 297 away, he sent a 3-wood to 27 en route to another three. But there was damage control, too, as important to the need at Pinehurst as ordering a blood transfusion at the Cradle par-3 course (which serves as a driving range this week). He only doubled. Most importantly, he didn’t explode.
A few weeks ago, he was also in pain. Pavon said he needed to fix it. He knew Pinehurst’s greens would be fast – and smooth. They are different. Pitching coach Jon Karlsen visited him in his new home, Florida.
They came with hope.
“Yeah, it’s not really technology,” said Pavon. “It’s about seeing the breaks because if it’s slow, if you have a small break, the ball doesn’t move as much as here. This is really — it’s steep, it’s fast, it’s green, so the ball moves a lot. He has many turns on the green. It was all about understanding how far I had to face the hole and how I had to adjust my speed to putt in a way that I wasn’t used to, like a dead weight type of putt, like a lot. finally, and before I get angry.
“It was really something I had to fix.”
To be honest, the whole year has been like that. It fixes it. A long-time member of the DP World Tour, he received his PGA Tour card late last year, after finishing birdie-birdie-birdie-birdie at the DP World Tour Championship. He moved to the States. Then he won in January, at the Farmers Insurance Open, after birdying the 18th hole at Torrey Pines. It was a career change – and a rise in expectations. New pressure followed.
After a tie for 12th at the Masters, his PGA Tour results went as follows: T49 at the RBC Heritage, 67 at the No-cut Wells Fargo Championship, missed the cut at the PGA Championship, missed last time at the Memorial.
“I’ve been pressured the last few golf courses,” Pavon said. “I said I played badly at Quail Hollow. I played poorly on the PGA. I played badly in the Memorial. These types of golf courses I’m not really — I’m not saying they’re perfect, but I used to play like a little bit easier golf courses back in Europe, so I have to adjust my game, adjust my thinking. Obviously when it’s really tough like this week, at least you know that sometimes you have to release some pressure and some expectations and play smart in the good areas and make one or two ups and downs when you need to. This is what has really changed compared to other weeks.”
There was bounceback-ability in Pavon for a while, though. We have seen that in his work. We saw that Thursday.
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We see it in his body. Pavon believes in breathing. On his right hand are written the words “saliva flowing now will be tears of joy tomorrow.” On his chest are the Indian words for the phrase “gula.”
“I wasn’t happy with the situation and the times I had on the course,” said Pavon in April at the Masters. “I went to that country, India. I saw some of the poorest things in my life. I saw children almost naked on the streets having fun near the water on the side of the road, without shoes and things like this.
“And I was like, I really have to grow up, like stop being a teenager, stop complaining about everything, accept time, because I’m a very lucky person, and I think all the players so far are real. We are lucky to do this. It’s a lot of hard work, but we’re still lucky to be healthy and in good shape.”
Now?
He’s in the mix for the US Open. On Friday, he will tee off at 1:58 pm on tee No. 10 to Round 2. Hungry. With a major win for number 1. With the first major victory for a Frenchman since Arnaud Massy won the 1907 Open Championship.
For toys.
“I felt like I was still working with my team,” said Pavon, “so almost everything is focused on the program. You know you’re going to have hard times and better days, and when I got here, I felt like I was surrounded by greenery, it was something we really saw in Europe. Let’s say you can put more. You don’t need to handle the ball. There is no such thing as rough thickness. This is like a links-y, let’s say, type of golf course.
“It looked normal, and that’s why I was so happy to be there today.”
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