PGA Tour winner, Matthieu Pavon will certainly have better days on the golf course, but at least he took one of his worst moments in good humor after failing to play the weekend at the RBC Canadian Open thanks - in the main - to an octuple-bogey 12 on Friday.
Having carded a steady yet unspectacular even-par 70 in round one on Thursday, Pavon knew he needed to come out firing in the second round if he was to avoid becoming one of the big names to miss the cut at TPC Toronto.
However, the Frenchman made almost the worst possible start (it could have been more) by shooting the highest single-hole score of his career.
Stood on the 10th tee to begin, Pavon pulled his drive into the trees prior to making a crucial course-management error that many amateurs are guilty of on a weekly basis.
Instead of taking his medicine and popping his ball back out into the fairway, the 32-year-old attempted to fire through a gap but failed to execute the shot correctly and remain in trouble.
Having found the fairway ahead of his fourth stroke, the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open champion dunked his ball in the water several times before eventually landing it on the green and two-putting for a 12.
That's the short story based off of the facts. But allow a series of posts on X from Pavon the following day to run you through exactly what he was thinking ahead of every shot.
Titling his thread 'The easy guide to making a perfect 12', Pavon wrote: "1. First shot: feeling confident off the tee after a brilliant warm-up. Pull the shot 40 y left into deep rough.
"2. Get lucky: ball is plugged. Make a perfect drop - going for the green is tempting, although a little voice in your head says “get back to the fairway.” Decided to go for it. Grass closed the clubface at impact: straight into the trees!
"3. Dead! Try to go back to the fairway but failed. Now deep in the thick rough! 4. Feeling smart now, try to anticipate the clubface closing at impact. Wasn’t successful ball straight in the water! 5. Drop.
"6. Great decision: dropping 60y from the pin on a tight and wet surface. Fat the shot: ball in the water! 7. Drop again.
The easy guide to making a perfect 12June 7, 2025
"8. Head is gone. So why not try again from 60y instead of going a few steps back to your favorite 88y? Fat the shot again: water! 9. Drop again (starting to master it) from the same spot.
"10. Realize there are only two balls left in the bag. Play smart: aim left to avoid the big slope pulling balls back into the water.
"11. Finally on the green, God, it feels good! Looking back at the 10th tee and feeling like the clubhouse is not so far away. Nice lag to 1 foot to make sure not making 3 putts (not great for the stats)!
"12. In! (highest personal score on a single hole in career). Walk to the next tee, try to pinch myself, ask my caddie if it was a 10? Turns out it was a 12! Think about Jean-Louis Guepy, record-holder for most consecutive birdies (10). Why not? Birdied the next two… and came back down to earth with a bogey on 13!"
The expert advice on how to make a 12 😅 pic.twitter.com/LlctXfmuS6June 8, 2025
Pavon's psycho scorecard did not end with 14 consecutive pars, as I'm sure you can imagine. Instead, he made par at 14 and 15 prior to a bogey five at 16, a birdie three at 17 and a double-bogey seven at the 18th hole - Pavon's ninth of round two.
Resisting the urge to withdraw, the first French golfer to win on the PGA Tour since Arnaud Massy (1907 Open Championship) continued on and traded a birdie for a bogey over the course of his next two holes as he made the turn.
A couple more bogeys heading for home were softened somewhat by a closing birdie at the par-4 ninth, and Pavon could take the weekend to try and move past his ordeal before readying himself for what many consider to be the toughest test in golf - the US Open.
