AUGUSTA, Ga. — Matthieu Pavon, should he need it, says he can just look down, toward his chest.
Toward his ink.
It’ll slap him back to reality.
This week, Pavon is playing the Masters, and in the 31-year-old Frenchman’s first appearance at Augusta National, he’s representing himself well. A first-round 70. A second-round 73. Entering Saturday’s third round, Pavon was five shots back of co-leaders Max Homa, Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler. Big picture, he’s among the world’s best.
But there’s a backstory. Things aren’t always a straight path, and they weren’t for Pavon.
He turned pro in 2013. Battled chipping yips for a period. Debated quitting. Eventually incorporated the cross-handed method also used by 2022 U.S. Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick. Played on the Alps Tour and Challenge Tour, European-based circuits. Reached the DP World Tour in 2017. Then, Pavon believed he wasn’t playing well. He often complained.
After a trip to India, he said that was foolish.
Monday, at Augusta, in response to a reporter’s question, Pavon looked back on it. He said he needed to grow up. Grow up. He liked that so much he soon had those two words tattooed on his chest. In Indian.
“I wasn’t happy about the situation and the moments I had on the course,” Pavon said. “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 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.”
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Notably, on Pavon, that tattoo isn’t alone. Nor is it solitary in its inspirational message.
Back in January, when Pavon won the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open, some air time was given to ink on his right hand. There, his tattoo says this: “The saliva that flows now will become the tears of joy tomorrow”
And to whom is the quotation attributed? Pavon told the PGA Tour that the words came “from Harvard,” though the original source is unclear. It doesn’t seem to matter. It’s doing its job.
“It’s really a meaningful sentence for me,” Pavon told the PGA Tour. “And this is why I work hard every day, to get those tears back when I lift the trophy.”
Pavon said he often thinks about inspirational material during tournament play, including sentences he’s written down that help him stay grounded in the present moment.
“You know how it is on the golf course, sometimes your head flies away a little bit and you have to get back to the present moment to refocus yourself,” Pavon said back in January. “Sentences like they are telling me why I play golf, why I’m here. They show me — they give me a little extra confidence. I think it’s really keen in sports, the more confidence you get, the easiest it could be and those sentences are there for.”
