France's Matthieu Pavon back to defend historic Farmers win

Matthieu Pavon knocked in an 8-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole of the Farmers Insurance Open last January and made PGA Tour history for his native France.

Pavon became the first Frenchman to win an official tour event and returns to San Diego this week to defend his title, with the tournament teeing off Wednesday at Torrey Pines Golf Course.

The Farmers Insurance Open utilises both courses at Torrey Pines in the neighborhood of La Jolla. Every player in the field will play a round at both the North Course and the South Course; after the 36-hole cut, the famed South Course will be the setting for the weekend rounds.

The PGA Tour is also keeping the tournament as a Wednesday through Saturday affair to aim for some Saturday primetime fireworks for the final round – while avoiding a matchup against the AFC and NFC championship games on Sunday.

Pavon, 32, shot a 13-under-par 275 here last year, beating Denmark's Nicolai Hojgaard by a single shot.

"No offense to easier golf course, but I'm not like a huge fan when a course gets between 20 and 30 under," Pavon said Tuesday. "I think it relates too much to the putter. Here it's really a ball-striking golf course and I like to see how intense and well-committed to the shots you have to be if you want to play great. I think this is why I kind of fell in love with Torrey the first time I played it."

TIME TO CONFIRM

Pavon had played mostly on the DP World Tour before earning a card in the States for the first time. After his maiden victory, he was in contention the very next week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and finished third in a rain-shortened event. He added a fifth-place finish at the US Open.

"I think the second year is always kind of the confirmation year," Pavon said. "That was a great rookie one, but now it's time to confirm, it's time to show up again and try to win tournaments.

"It's a pretty big year for me because it's also a Ryder Cup year. This is one of my goals I've been chasing since I'm a kid."

He'll be up against a field this week that features five top-20 players, led by World No 4 and FedEx Cup leader Hideki Matsuyama of Japan. Other big names outside that top 20 include Tony Finau, Ireland's Shane Lowry, Australia's Jason Day and Max Homa.

A California native, Homa won the Farmers in 2023 but is coming off an underwhelming 2024 season. Day, meanwhile, captured this tournament in 2015 and 2018 during the prime of his career.

"I'm very loyal to this area, I'm very loyal to this golf tournament," Day said. "I love this area, I love the people here. I also love the golf tournament and I love the golf course. It's something that has been – I've had a lot of good memories here so that's why I'm very loyal to this place."

Another name to watch this week will be Charley Hoffman, 48, who tied for fifth last week at The American Express and came close to winning his first tournament since 2016. Hoffman is a San Diego native who tied for ninth at this event as recently as 2020.

"(San Diego's Phil Mickelson is) no longer playing the PGA Tour. He was the guy and I always looked up to him and he always supported the hometown event," Hoffman said. "Now I'm sort of the older guy and hopefully we get the town out here supporting me and put on a show for them."