ITALIAN PAVAN IS SET TO DITCH THE PASTA AND BECOME A HECK OF A HIBEE!

Andrea Pavan last night revealed he’s ditching pasta for “cabbage and ribs” after surging up the Scottish Open leaderboard.

After scraping through the cut on Friday night, the Italian carded an incredible, best of the day nine-underpar 62 – one off the course record – on day three, putting him firmly in the hunt.

And after warming up for the tournament by playing in Wednesday’s pro-am with Hibs boss Paul Heckingbottom, football-mad Pavan reckons he’s ready to make the Hibees his Scottish team.

“Paul hit lots of long drives and they were fairly straight!” joked the 30-year-old.

“It was a lot of fun, very enjoyable, and to be honest I don’t think he’s a nine handicap because he had a few birdies!

“The course itself isn’t super hard and it wasn’t playing very hard either, but Paul was pretty impressive.

“I’m a big football fan, so it was nice to play with a professional coach. It’s always nice to play with other athletes at professional levels. You can tell they know what they’re doing.

“They know it’s preparation for us but it’s still very enjoyable. We had a chat and my caddie got involved as well.

“He played some pro football back in Argentina, but I don’t think Paul is trying to sign him.

“I hadn’t heard of Hibs before I played with Paul. Growing up, I mainly followed Serie A, but I looked him up afterwards and he told me their training ground is right here.

“I think they will maybe be my Scottish team from now on!

“He asked me if I had any green clothes to wear, but I didn’t.

“I went to Texas A&M university and our colour was maroon, so I suppose it wasn’t quite the right combination for Paul. But anyway, we had a laugh.”

Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy insists he’s happy with his game going into The Open Championship.

But the Northern Irishman concedes he was hoping for more of a challenge this week than the Scottish Open has provided.