MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 8, 2024

Matthieu Pavon

Quick Quotes

Q. Your first Masters. You've been around the course multiple times. How does it feel?

MATTHIEU PAVON: Yeah, it's nice to see it with my eyes now and not through a TV screen. It's really a gorgeous place, even more when you play it and you can really enjoy the walk around. It's beautiful, the trees, the flowers, everything is ready for the tournament.

It's more hilly than I thought because on TV you can't really see all the undulations and stuff. It's really somewhat like a rollercoaster.

But it's a very fun track with lots of different shots, and I really enjoy playing it.

Q. What was the hole or the shot that popped out to you the most that surprised you in any way?

MATTHIEU PAVON: There are none in particular, but you can feel some special. Like that first drive, like it's quite a big slope in between the tee box and the fairway, I mean the top part of the fairway.

9 is a tricky shot, downslope, uphill.

And then I really love the back nine. The back nine is beautiful when you get to those holes like Amen Corner. It's absolutely pure, the purest as it gets, and some of the shots over there are pretty nice to hit.

Q. Is your mom out here with you?

MATTHIEU PAVON: Yeah, my mom, my dad, my brothers.

Q. Did she tell you where the Euro coin is?

MATTHIEU PAVON: Yeah, the thing is, back in 2009 it was a different range, so she said it was just behind some of the grandstands by the old range.

Now it feels like some of the things have changed, so it will be pretty impossible to find that coin again. But it doesn't matter. I think it's part of the story, and it's only better that that coin maybe stays here forever.

Q. You're not going to take a look for it at all?

MATTHIEU PAVON: No.

Q. Did she happen to point it out at all?

MATTHIEU PAVON: No. The only thing we're going to do now is probably I'm going to get a coin myself, bury it somewhere for maybe wishing that my son one day will come as a player over here.

I don't know if he wants to play golf. It doesn't matter. But maybe I wish that. It would be fun if in the next 20, 30 years my son gets here as a player. That would be an awesome story.

Q. Is he one or two?

MATTHIEU PAVON: He's two years old.

Q. Obviously you've had such a great rise recently. When did playing here for you become something you started to think about with your rapid rise over the last six, seven months?

MATTHIEU PAVON: It's tough to say. Not long ago. It really got in my mind Monday when I showed up here for the first time because we have had a lot of things to deal with with my team.

Everything goes quite quick since I came on the PGA TOUR. I had a fast start so I had a lot of media to deal with. My life hasn't really stopped since.

It was hard to just take some time for me and really realize what I've achieved so far and like how massive would be that week. It's really fresh in my mind. It only started like last week.

Q. Did everyone drive up together today, you, your mom, your dad, your brothers?

MATTHIEU PAVON: No. So we didn't have everyone in the same car, so my mom and my wife and my son, we were all together in the same car today, but tomorrow it will be different people, I'm sure.

Q. You guys have been living out of AirBNBs in Florida?

MATTHIEU PAVON: Yeah, yeah, AirBNBs for now. It's just that I don't know how it works here in America with mortgages and stuff like this. I have to go visit houses. It takes time.

For now I just want to be really into golf. The season is so exciting, so many great tournaments, so just focusing on myself and my golf at the moment is the priority, and we will see for the next year if we'll have opportunities to go with some agents and visit some houses and things like that.

But it will come later.

Q. You talked about when you thought the Masters could be a possibility for you. Back in October you were sixth among Frenchmen in the OWGR and now you're first. When did you start thinking that the Olympics could be possible?

MATTHIEU PAVON: Yeah, that wasn't the goal. I kind of set up goals a year to another. It's never really numbers and stuff like this. Of course Olympics in Paris is big, so that would have been really the goal this year.

Obviously I started a little bit earlier. Having that win in Spain really put me in the right train, and since then I never really thought about it until I won in Pinehurst -- in Torrey Pines, sorry.

And yeah, this is where also I kind of realized that I would be pretty secure for a spot for the Olympics, and I'm really excited about that.

Q. Your tattoo, it means in Indian -- what does it mean?

MATTHIEU PAVON: No, on my chest I have -- it means "grow up" in English. Yeah, I had one where I grew up.

Q. Can you tell me the story?

MATTHIEU PAVON: Actually we cannot see it a lot because I got it covered by others on the side, but you can still see it.

The thing is like -- everything I do I try to do things with meanings, and that one was really -- when I was on my first year on Tour, on the DP World Tour, we traveled a lot over to different countries. I was one of the young guys on Tour, wanted to do great but wasn't doing the best so far, and I was complaining a lot, and I wasn't happy about the situation and the moments I had on the course.

I went to that country, India. I saw some of the poorest things in my life. I saw kids almost naked in the streets having fun close to some water on the side of the road, having no shoes and stuff like this.

And I was like, I really have to grow up, like stop being a teenager, stop complaining about everything, just embracing the moment, because I'm a very lucky person, and I think all the players so far are really are. We are lucky to do this. It's a lot of hard work, but we are still lucky to be healthy and have a great situation.

This is why I wanted to get this in Indian on my chest.

Q. Do you have a favorite French Olympic memory or favorite athlete from childhood that you watched?

MATTHIEU PAVON: No, I know we have great sports guys like Teddy Riner. A lot of gold medals in judo. We had Manaudou as a swimmer. We had Renaud Lavillenie with the pole vault. We have a lot of great guys. It is not one but many memories. I know we have a lot of great sports men and even more great men and women we can talk to, and this is the thing I'm looking forward the most at the Olympics like sharing time with those great athletes. That will be very nice and I'm sure helpful for the rest of my career.

Q. When your father scored against Manchester United were you there?

MATTHIEU PAVON: No, I was not. I was only six years old or seven, but I've watched that video many times. That was a poor kick from the left foot.

But this is what he always said to me: If you don't try, you can't succeed. He took that shot and he tried, whereas maybe some of the others were uncomfortable with it, and he ended up scoring, so why not try.

Q. In talking to -- I talked to Mike Lorenzo Vera before he came here, I talked to Romain, I talked to your coach, and they say your story inspires. How do you react to that?

MATTHIEU PAVON: Yeah, I'm glad with that. They are good guys, guys I really love and spend a lot of time with them. So being recognized by those guys that I love a lot, it's really meaningful for me.

As I said, I'm just driven by good values or at least I try. Like hard work, humility. This is all we can do, discipline, hard work and humility. If some of the people found out -- found some inspiration through that, I'm really happy if I can help for anything.

Q. Mike said there was a spot in the airport before you went to Madrid where you guys were having drinks. Do you remember that night?

MATTHIEU PAVON: Yeah, I do. I do. So definitely when I go to Madrid this year, I know which bar I have to stop to. It is funny how things go. We had a long tournament on the Dunhill Links, we end up on the Monday late, we had no direct flight to Madrid, and we ended up me and Mike alone in that airport. Like two hours delays, had to fly to Dublin before Madrid the day after at 6:00 a.m. ahead of the trip, and we ended up in like a gin bar.

I don't drink much alcohol, to be fair, and we ended up having like so much fun together, like two, three drinks, really talking about golf and stories in general. We shared a lovely moment.

The week after I ended up winning and making a top 10. This is one of the moments you keep in mind, and when you talk about it, it gives you a big smile.