Pavon wins Farmers with 72nd hole birdie
Matthieu Pavon extended his arms, turned to the crowd and gave a thunderous fist pump.
Pavon, who not even four months ago was ranked 228th in the world, was brilliant down the stretch Saturday at the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego, California. His birdie putt on the 72nd hole at Torrey Pines’ South Course gave him his first PGA Tour victory after a thrilling final hole.
The 31-year-old Frenchman, a rookie who earned his card thanks to his top-10 finish in the DP World Tour standings last year, is now a PGA Tour winner. He conquered Torrey Pines, shooting 3-under 69 on Saturday to capture his second victory in the past three months, the other coming at the Spanish Open on the DP World Tour.
He’s the first player from France to win on the PGA Tour.
In Saturday’s final round, Pavon bogeyed his opening hole before rallying with four birdies in the final six holes on the front nine.
Consistent play highlighted his back nine. His seemingly lone mistake, a wayward tee shot on the par-3 16th into a greenside bunker, he escaped trouble with a huge par putt while Stephan Jaeger, who led heading into the final round, missed a shorter birdie putt to keep the gap at two.
On the 17th, Pavon missed a short par putt to drop his first shot since the opening hole and made his lead only one standing on the 18th tee. Nicolai Hojgaard, who was one shot behind Pavon, striped a tee shot down the fairway while Pavon’s ball drifted left into a bunker.
The lie was terrible, and he pulled his second into the left rough. Facing a thick lie, he smashed the ball and it landed roughly 20 feet from the hole before moving back within 10 feet. Meanwhile, Hojgaard was on the green in two.
Hojgaard’s eagle putt narrowly missed, leaving 3 feet for birdie, but Pavon knocked in his birdie to hold off Hojgaard.
Pavon’s recent stretch of hot play includes a T-7 at his Tour debut at the Sony
Open in Hawaii, and six top 10s in his past 10 worldwide starts. Even better, his victory will likely move him into the top 60 in the world, meaning he’s almost guaranteed a spot on France’s roster for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
LPGA Tour
BRADENTON, Fla. — Benton McDede crawled for the first time Saturday morning at Nelly Korda’s house. The McDede family, Korda’s caddie Jason and his wife, LPGA player Caroline Masson and their nine-month-old son, are houseguests this week along with Korda’s close friend Megan Khang.
“Milestones at my house,” said Korda, beaming.
Home events are rare for players on the LPGA, and Korda is experiencing it for the first time this week at the LPGA
Drive On Championship at Bradenton Country Club where she has led all three rounds. The 25-year-old Korda, who was born down the street from the club, has asked fellow players for their tickets all week to accommodate the requests she’s received.
Korda even spotted the wife of her first coach tending the ropes as a volunteer on Friday.
“I was losing teeth during our practice sessions,” she said of how far they go back.
An eight-time winner on the LPGA and Olympic gold medalist, Korda last won on tour in November 2022. She got off to a slow start on Saturday, missing a string of birdie putts inside 10 feet in gusty winds on demanding Donald Ross greens. While her parents live a mere 15 minutes away (Korda is about 40 minutes away), she hasn’t played too much golf at the 100-year-old club, outside of the occasional U.S. Women’s Open qualifier.
A couple of snap hooks on Nos. 7 and 8 led to bogeys, and Korda found herself down one stroke to Lydia Ko as she made the turn. But the hometown favorite finished in a flurry, making eagle on the penultimate par-5 with a hole-out from a greenside bunker and then birdieing the last to shoot 3-under 68 and bolt to a four-stroke lead at 13 under over Ko, Khang and Japan’s Ayaka Furue.
With Korda, Furue and Khang going off in the final group on Sunday, Khang jokingly wondered whether Korda would even talk to her tonight.
“Maybe I’ll just leave her stuff outside the door today,” said Korda, smiling. “Find yourself a new place. I’m just kidding.”
European Tour
RAS AL KHAIMAH, United Arab Emirates – Thorbjorn Olesen will take a four-shot lead into the final day of the Ras Al Khaimah Championship after shooting a 9-under 63 in the third round.
Olesen made 10 birdies to go with a lone bogey on the par-3 seventh hole to surge past fellow Dane Rasmus Hojgaard into a commanding lead on a 22under total of 194.
Olesen shot a 62 on Friday but felt that Saturday’s round was even better.
“I hit a lot more fairways today, and that gave me the chance to be aggressive with the second shots. It was nice to find so many fairways. It was a great round again,” he said.
Hojgaard shared the overnight lead with Manuel Elvira but settled for a 68 to sit alone in second place, two shots ahead of Frederic Lacroix (66).
Elvira also shot 62 on Friday but followed it up with an uneven 72 that included four bogeys, one eagle and two birdies to fall into a tie for seventh.
The tournament is the third straight European tour event to be staged in the United Arab Emirates after the Dubai Invitational and the Dubai Desert Classic, won by Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy, respectively.