Matthieu Pavon reflected on the latest chapter in his remarkable rise to prominence with immense pride as he registered his best finish in a Major Championship at the 124th U.S. Open.
Since his maiden DP World Tour victory in Spain in October, the Frenchman has become a PGA TOUR winner, and the dual member underlined his status among the top players of world golf with a solo fifth place finish on a compelling final day at Pinehurst No. 2.
Paired with Bryson DeChambeau, who won his second Major and second at his national championship, Pavon carded a closing one-over-par 71 as two birdies in a three-hole stretch midway through his back nine helped him to a confidence-boosting result in North Carolina.
"That was an awesome day," he told the DP World Tour. "Being last off with Bryson, the major champion. It was a super nice experience.
"I enjoyed every moment on the golf course. The crowd was nice, very fair to me, [while] pushing for the home guy. It was nice to feel that strong energy. I managed to drop some birdies on my back nine [so] to finish fifth was really nice.
"It is always me against the golf course. This is what I try to do, even if you can see Rory [McIlroy] starting like a bomb, Bryson doing Bryson things let’s say.
"I always try to stick to my game plan, the things I know to do and down the stretch my game got better and better and enabled me to create birdie chances. I made one or two great putts, it’s overall a super nice week."
Incredible week, loved every second!
— Matthieu Pavon (@matthieupavon) June 17, 2024
Thanks to the crowd for making me experience such an amazing atmosphere!
Congrats to Bryson for winning the trophy! He is a very gentle guy and a true champion.
Really impressed by the tremendous quality of his short game.
We will be back ✌🏼
Pavon arrived at the penultimate men's Major of the year on the back of back-to-back missed cuts on the PGA TOUR but he produced some stellar golf on a challenging layout to once again impress on one of golf's biggest stages.
The result has lifted Pavon to a career-high 20th in the Official World Golf Ranking and boosted his confidence ahead of what is still to come this year.
"We know that in the season you are going to have up and downs," he added. "I had pretty big downs the last three weeks. I was down in the field at Quail Hollow, it was not easy, but I always try to keep things as simple as I can.
"I tried also to raise my energy a little, I felt like I was quite tired the last few weeks and we are back. One week, one good sensation and all of a sudden you feel like you can win almost any tournament."
In a remarkable finish to last season, Pavon recorded two top 10s – including at the DP World Tour Championship where he birdied his last four holes – in addition to his victory at the acciona Open de España presented by Madrid to clinch dual membership status on the PGA TOUR.
He then became the first French winner on the PGA TOUR since 1907 with victory at the Farmers Insurance Open in January, with another highlight coming in April as he finished in a tie for 12th on his Masters debut to earn an invite back to Augusta National Golf Club for next year in the process.
Reflecting on the road to this stage in his career, the 31-year-old said: "It's an amazing journey. It shows it can go really fast one way and also really fast the other way. It is just hard work that I have put in with my team. We worked hard with everybody.
"I have a nice group of people around me, very positive people, very hard-working people and we tried to keep things simple. This is the way I feel like I can compete at my best level. This is maybe what made the difference the last year and a half."
