Breakfast Ball #4: Pavon, and?

Matthieu Pavon has made history! It was a week full of European golfers at the top of a PGA Tour leaderboard. Just the way we like it.

Pavon WINS in Torrey Pines for his first victory on the PGA Tour, Højgaard in second

On November 19th, 2023, Matthieu Pavon needed a miracle. He was 4 holes from the end of the DP World Tour Championship and was outside of the top 10 positions that granted 2024 PGA Tour cards to the best DP World Tour players without PGA Tour eligibility. Pavon got his miracle. He finished with 4 straight birdies to finish 5th in the tournament, and vaulted 5 spots in the end of season rankings to secure a PGA Tour card for 2024.

That rollercoaster experience continued on Saturday as Matthieu Pavon secured his first PGA Tour victory with a birdie on the 72nd hole to beat Nicolai Højgaard by 1 shot. Finding himself in significant trouble after an errant tee shot and a poor layup, Pavon hit a stunning third shot from thick rough to 8 feet, before canning the putt for the win. Ironically, the player who lost out on a PGA Tour card thanks to Pavon’s epic finish in November was Rasmus Højgaard, Nicolai’s twin brother.

It was a great weekend for Europe in Torrey Pines, as Stephan Jaeger held the lead into the final day before finishing T3. Nicolai Højgaard once again established himself as one of the most exciting young talents in world golf, with a sole 2nd place finish for the 22-year-old. There were other good performances for Ludvig Åberg (T9), Thomas Detry (T20), and Shane Lowry (T25), who holed an albatross in his final round.

Adrian Meronk on the move to LIV Golf, which begins its season this weekend in Mexico

Adrian Meronk withdrew from the Farmers Insurance Open on Tuesday, citing an illness as the reason for his withdrawal. A couple of hours later, The Times reported that he was leaving his PGA Tour card behind for LIV Golf. While many have tried to downplay this news, it is a blow to the European presence on the PGA Tour. Meronk was the DP World Tour player of the year, is undoubtedly the best Polish golfer ever, and was about to embark on his first full season on the PGA Tour.

We will be keeping track of Meronk, Rahm, and all of the other European golfers on LIV as it kicks off its first event of the year this week in Mayakoba, Mexico. We are 4 days out from this event and the teams for the season have not yet been finalized as LIV scrambles to recruit their final couple of players and complete all team lineups. So what do we know now?

According to reports, either Wyndham Clark or Tyrell Hatton will be LIV’s final recruitment splash. High profile players such as Viktor Hovland, Tommy Fleetwood, and Tony Finau have all recently rejected offers, hindering LIV’s momentum since Rahm’s signing. It is likely that news of that final signing will filter out in the next couple of days, but because of their previous failed efforts to fill out the teams, we don’t know who their best player will play with 4 days before the first event. Not an ideal way to build momentum for your new season.

Be sure to check the newsletter each week for the latest from LIV’s events this year!

EDIT: According to The Telegraph, Tyrell Hatton has signed for LIV since this was first published.

Pebble Beach is the scene for the second signature event of the PGA Tour season

14 European players will tee it up in Pebble Beach this week, as the PGA Tour continues its West Coast swing in California. This is the start of the season in earnest for many of the top players, with the WM Open in Phoenix and The Genesis Invitational in LA following this event.

It will be quite a different challenge for those that were in Torrey Pines this week, as they go from the 2nd longest course on the Tour this year to the 2nd shortest in Pebble Beach. Players who have a strong approach game and can get up and down around the smallest greens on Tour will be in contention for the $20M purse. So who does the course set up well for from a European perspective?

Justin Rose is the defending champion, but has been below average in strokes gained (strokes gained explanation here) in approach play in his first 3 starts of 2024. Matt Fitzpatrick, Tyrell Hatton, and Tommy Fleetwood have all gained strokes in putting and approach over the last 12 months and should be in contention. However, Viktor Hovland has the profile to win here. In his last 7 events of 2023, Hovland gained an average of 1.2 strokes in approach and 0.67 in putting each round. This means he was 1.2 shots better than the average golfer in approach shots in every round he played. This is his first start of 2024, which could make things more difficult, but we are excited to see him tee it up and go deep into the weekend in California.

Other Results:

• Thorbjorn Olesen won the Ras Al Khaimah Championship on the DP World Tour, 6 shots ahead of Rasmus Hojgaard

  • The 2018 Ryder Cup winner fired 62 and 63 in consecutive days on Friday and Saturday

  • Was this the first time ever 2 twins came second on 2 major world golf tours in the same weekend? Probably. Can we confirm it? Absolutely not.

Coming up this week on Tour:

• The DP World Tour moves to the Bahrain Championship

• The Pebble Beach Pro-Am takes place in California, and we will be reporting live from the course on Saturday and Sunday on Twitter/X! :)