Matthieu Pavon admits his new-found status as France's top golfer brings with it extra pressure but he is relishing the challenge of performing for a home crowd at the FedEx Open de France.
This time last year, Pavon was still searching for a maiden DP World Tour in a seventh brilliantly consistent season since graduating from the Challenge Tour but everything changed with his victory at the acciona Open de España presented by Madrid.
Just over a month later, he would birdie the last four holes at the DP World Tour Championship to earn Dual Membership with the PGA TOUR and in January he was a winner on that circuit at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Since then he has also secured a top five at the U.S. Open and represented his country in the Olympics here at Le Golf National to firmly establish himself inside the top 30 on the Official World Golf Ranking.
That puts him right at the vanguard of the current swell in French success on the DP World Tour and he admits expectations from the home fans are higher than ever before.
"I'd say (they are) pretty big," he said of home hopes. "Puts a bit of pressure on me. It's a bit different now. You're back home and you try to please everyone. It's a different tournament for me.
"We love the game, so any time we can see it growing here in France, it's amazing.
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"I think playing well in America with Victor Perez really helped and seeing the guys win on Tour this year, everybody is doing great this year and it's good to see and I'm sure in France it inspires people."
In his six appearances at the Open de France and the Olympics, Pavon's best result at Le Golf National is a tie for 30th and he is expecting another tough test with the 2018 Ryder Cup venue playing long due to recent rain around Paris.
"Energy level is a bit low, to be fair," he said. "Not much of a rest in between American schedule and here in Europe.
"But I'm just happy to be here and spend four days with all the fans in France. So it might help me to raise up a little bit my energy.
"We can expect it to play like it feels 9,000 yards long. It's going to be brutal because the fairways are wet. Always a long golf course to play.
"But the greens are in really good condition, the golf course is really beautiful. Rough is thick and its humid, so it will be a nice challenge."
