Matthieu Pavon made every post a winning one when leading from start to finish at the Spanish Open in Madrid to win his first DP World Tour title.
The 30-year-old Frenchman arrived in the Spanish capital with three runner-up finishes on both the Challenge Tour and DP World Tour, but had never won at the highest level despite being an incredibly consistent performer over eight seasons. One of those runner-up finishes was here 12 months ago, but he always looked like going one better after an opening 63 and followed up with rounds of 68, 66 and 64 to get to 23 under and claim a comfortable four-shot victory.
Pavon already had four top-tens in 2023 when he changed his driver and putter during Ryder Cup week as he finished second at the Open d’Arcachon on home soil. Another followed at last week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and he now enters the winner’s circle in his 185th DP World Tour appearance.
South African Zander Lombard carded a 64 to finish as the nearest challenger, one clear of Nathan Kimsey and two ahead of Marcel Siem and Fabrizio Zanotti. Siem revealed that a 61 was the plan all along after he carded his lowest DP World Tour round by three shots. In 519 previous events he had never gone lower than 64, but he had a chip on the last for a 59 in his ten-under-par effort.
Defending champion Jon Rahm ended his week with a 64 to finish at 14 under and in an eight-way tie for ninth place.
Matthieu Pavon WITB
DRIVER: PING G430 MAX (9°)
FAIRWAY WOOD: PING G430 LST 3 (15°)
HYBRID: PING G430 (19°)
IRONS: PING i230 (3-PW)
WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (52°, 58°).
PUTTER: PING Cadence TR Tomcat C
BALL: Titleist Pro V1