MADRID: In his 185th DP World Tour start, Matthieu Pavon clinched his first victory at the ACCIONA Open de España presented by Madrid, carding an impressive final round 7-under 64. With this win he becomes the third French winner of the Spanish Open.
“It means everything, 8 years without winning any tournament, and that was a long wait, but it was worth it,” Pavon said. “It was tough like I was very emotional, like yesterday so really had to get back and focus on the thick of things. I had some great notes in my book and I read them on every shot I play today just keep me in the present moment,” Pavon said as he discussed the nerves he felt going into the final round.
Starting his round strong, Pavon carded a birdie on the first hole and continued to build his lead adding three more birdies, including consecutive ones on the 6th and 7th holes. His front-nine score of 32 set the stage for a brilliant back-nine performance, where he added three more birdies, resulting in a flawless round and his first trophy in eight years.
“I mean the game wasn’t perfect at first, I miss a couple shots but ended up pretty good with the chips and the putts. Big momentum was that birdie on No. 6. That was a huge momentum for me. Then a great birdie on seven and then all of a sudden I really felt like I had it in my hands. I felt comfortable on the golf course even if it was as I said stressful day but I managed it well. And I done the job,” added Pavon.
Having spent his childhood in Madrid with his late grandfather, a win here meant everything to the Frenchman. “He is up there,” said Pavon as the tears began to flow after holing the winning putt. “A part of my heart is here in Spain for sure. My grandfather was from here and lived in France because of Franco. I really thought about him on the course today and it was really hard to keep the tears inside, now I can let them go a little bit.”
South Africa’s Zander Lombard secured his third second-place finish of the season with a bogey-free final round of 64. Meanwhile, England’s Nathan Kimsey also posted a flawless round of 67 to finish in solo third place.
Marcel Siem, a five-time DP World Tour winner, produced the lowest round of the day and finished tied fourth with Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti. Siem started the day in tied 34th position and carded an incredible 10-under 61 in the final round, which included six bridies and two eagles. This performance is projected to boost his ranking to 18th on the Race to Dubai standings, putting him in contention for a top-10 finish at the end of the year and reach his dream of making it to the PGA Tour next season.
“It was always my dream to play on the PGA TOUR. I love the DP World Tour so much and all the friends. I spoke to Romain Langasque about it yesterday, if we have a cool crew of ten guys going over there and sharing houses and stuff it would be amazing,” said Siem. “But there’s a lot of golf to be played before that and especially at my age, I’m thinking about seniors golf later — it’s only six-and-a-half years so that’s a milestone to have a chance to play over there.”
Defending champion Jon Rahm, secured a tied 9th place finish at his home open after posting a 7-under final round of 64. The World No.3 completed an impressive front nine with eight birdies, four of which came in the opening four holes, all without missing a fairway or green.
“Today was a good day obviously, it was the start I wanted not the back nine I needed. I gave myself a chance to hope but unfortunately, Marcel took the back nine and he did what was needed to be done to contend a little bit,” Rahm said. “Still proud to come and compete and finish with a top-10, its good for the stats and its good for the soul, but I might have just run out of energy a little bit this week.”
