Bryson DeChambeau thanked Matthieu Pavon. He didn’t want his apology.
He didn’t want to apologize himself, after all.
The moment in question mostly centers around etiquette, and the topic came up this week on Pavon’s visit on the Fore Play podcast, which you can listen to in full here. It followed Pavon’s putt to 2 feet, 11 inches on the 72nd hole of last week’s U.S. Open — which came shortly after DeChambeau, his playing partner, had hit to a foot almost directly behind that spot for a putt that could win him the major.
As things turned out, Pavon marked, DeChambeau dropped his putt, he celebrated — then he shushed the masses at Pinehurst in order for Pavon to putt. But did Pavon have a thought of putting out after his first putt? The Frenchman’s 3-footer was to finish fifth, and often in these situations, players will try to give the stage to the player on the brink of a title.
Still, DeChambeau was away. Pavon also offered a couple revelations on the podcast. He’d thought the putt would lock him in for all four of next year’s majors. (It got him just a return to the U.S. Open.) He wouldn’t hurry it. No putt on Pinehurst’s greens should be rushed. Pavon marked.
He said he then realized the circumstances.
“I kind of realized, damn, it’s the winning putt for Bryson so maybe I should just finish it,” Pavon said on the podcast. “And then because I can’t [stop] that momentum and it’s already like 30 seconds to a minute while I’ve been marking that ball, I’m like, well, it’s too late, I’m not going to go back now and just finish it.
“So obviously I was praying in my mind, I was like, just make it please.”
He did. But there’s more. Podcast host Dan Rapaport had noted that Pavon would’ve given DeChambeau a read on his putt — and Pavon said it came up in a bit of a heart-to-heart in the scoring area afterward.
DeChambeau, Pavon said on the podcast, wanted to be fair to Rory McIlroy, who was a stroke behind him.
Did Bryson DeChambeau get lucky at the U.S. Open? A forensic investigation
“I said, Bryson, I’m really sorry, dude. I should have probably finished it,” Pavon said on the podcast. “But it was for solo second [fifth], and I don’t know why I was focused on that thing and not focused on you. You have to win the tournament. And I don’t why. I apologized so bad to him. And he said, dude, you’ve done the right thing. It’s important for you and you’ve done the right call.”
Said Rapaport: “And also, I think if you would have finished, it would have been a big story. Don’t you think? …”
Said Pavon: “This is what he said. He said thanks not doing it because you would have showed me the line and I think it’s not fair for Rory and I don’t want to win it that way. So I was like, OK, fine. I’m glad you made it.”
