Matthieu Pavon: ‘France has been underestimated – now we need a major winner’

Matthieu Pavon had barely touched down in the United States and he was already a winner.

At the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open, in San Diego, he became the first Frenchman to win an official PGA Tour event and landed dates with the biggest tournaments and golf courses in the game.

Now, after a torrid start to 2025, he’s trying to rewrite the history books by chasing a dream many have failed to realise: ending his country’s major drought.

Before that small matter, he sat down with bunkered…

• Inside the PGA of America’s state-of-the-art $550 million HQ

• An unlikely PGA Championship qualifier is one of the world’s hottest players

How motivated are you to make your Ryder Cup debut in 2025?

Yeah, it’s a huge goal. I mean, it’s a dream that I’ve chased, since I was young. First it was winning on the DP World Tour, then the PGA Tour and now the next two steps are winning a major and being a Ryder Cup player. It’s part of my journey and hopefully I’m representing Europe at the end of the year.

Paul McGinley said you have what it takes, is he right?

Well, he is a tremendous guy, so when an elite player like Paul talks about you like this, it means a lot because he knows how tough the game is and how much you have to work to get to that level. Paul feels that I have some grit, and I can be helpful for the team, but the season is so long, I’ll need to have a very solid year to have a small chance.

How did you find playing on the PGA Tour as a rookie?

It was awesome, I think it’s like being the new kid in the new school. It’s not easy, here in America everything is just bigger. But it’s all a pleasure. That was the key for me last year, just embracing the moment, being so happy to be here and compete in new places. I think that’s what made me perform.

It can be a lonely environment; are you close with many players on tour?

I get along well with Shane [Lowry], with Alex Noren, also guys like Christian Bezuidenhout and Erik van Rooyen. But there are also a lot of great guys in America. Billy Horschel has been very helpful; he’s a guy I can talk to freely. Ricky Fowler is awesome, Wyndham Clark, Jake Knapp. There are a lot of guys who made me feel really welcome.

How did it feel to make history and win as a Frenchman?

It was great because for a long time, I think French golf was underestimated. We looked like we were a weak country for golf, but in my mind, we always were quite strong. Golf in France is getting better and bigger and by winning in America, I think I helped the guys who compete in Europe to dream bigger.

You would be the first French major winner in this era, how much does that motivate you?

That would be something special. France has had tremendous players over the years and now we need to have a major winner for our country. It would help grow golf in France, so that’s really the next step if we want to make the sport bigger.

Do you feel extra pressure to win one?

Not really, it’s so tough to win a major, right? So many great players haven’t. You take an unbelievable career like Lee Westwood, for example, it shows how tough it is. There is no pressure it’s just a dream, a unicorn that you chase, and you try to do everything that you can to put yourself in the best place to have a shot one day.

What are your memories of Victor Dubuisson?

For me, Victor is the best French golfer of all time. He was special and at his prime he was unbelievable. He could hit shots that nobody could. We miss him a lot, because Victor is a great guy, and he was really good for golf. It’s a bit sad that he decided to end his career.

He was also quite a unique character as well; were you close with him?

Yeah, it’s just sad that people know Victor only through golf and some of his bad behaviours whilst playing, because he’s a very gentle guy. He was always really kind with me, just a nice guy. I wish people knew him more outside, rather than just the golfer that he was.

• The Major Burden: Shaun Micheel and the 2003 PGA Championship

• Victor Dubuisson: ‘I was tired of pro golf – now I have a different life’

What was it like making your Master’s debut?

It was amazing, the Masters is the most unique major for me. It’s the best of the best. You can’t qualify to this like others, you have to earn it. Augusta is just a special and unique place; I mean walking down Amen Corner is probably the most emotional and exclusive things that I have ever done in golf.

Your mum buried a coin at Augusta years ago, didn’t she?

Yeah, my mum went to watch the 2009 Masters with my dad and she decided to bury a coin somewhere close to a pine tree near the old range and made a wish that she would come back in ten years, but her son would be playing. So, after I won at Torrey, I discovered in the press conference that I was eligible to play The Masters. I called my mum, and I said, we’re not going back ten years after but 15 is still pretty good.

And you dad was a former pro footballer, what impact did he have on your career?

Well, my mum is a golf teacher, so it’s the way they both raised me. A lot of it was teaching the values of humility and working hard. My dad and I felt like underdogs, which pushed us to work even more and be the best players we can.

Do you have any memories of watching your dad play football?

I was a bit young, but we had a VHS, everything was recorded on tape. Me and my brothers saw the tape of Bordeaux winning the French championship in 1998/99 like 100 times, it had all the goals and the reviews of every game.

So, if not for golf, would you have played football?

Probably, I love football. I wasn’t too bad as a player, but I just felt like I was more of individual type of guy, not because I was selfish, but because I just wanted to make sure that the outcome of the game was coming from my hard work and my discipline.

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This interview first appeared in issue 219 of bunkered (January-February 2025). For more like this, why not take out a subscription? International subscriptions also available.

John Turnbull A graduate of the University of Stirling, John joined the bunkered team in 2023 as a Content Producer, with a responsibility for covering all breaking news, tour news, grassroots content and much more besides. A keen golfer, he plays the majority of his golf at Falkirk Tryst Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.