DJ shakes off putting woes to claim victory in Mexico

MEXICO CITY – There’s a great saying that even the most rudimentary Spanish speakers know: No te preocupes. Translation: Don’t worry about it. Not enough chips for your guacamole? No te preocupes. Stuck in traffic? No te preocupes. Missed so many short putts that if you added them all up they’d extend halfway to Matamoros? No te preocupes. That last dilemma was the one facing Dustin Johnson at the World Golf Championships – Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec. But Johnson is the ultimate “No te preocupes” guy. Sure, he was 74th of 76 players in putts from inside 10 feet. Sure, he said it felt like there was a goalie in front of the hole. But on full shots the ball was going where he was looking. He kept saying he liked the way he was swinging, liked his position on the leaderboard, until he’d won. “I played really well the last three rounds,” Johnson said after carding a final-round 68 to edge Tommy Fleetwood (66) by a shot. “I just hit it really good. I still missed a lot of putts, but I think everybody was struggling on the greens. They were really tricky, tough to read.” How tricky? For the week, Johnson missed 16 putts from inside 10 feet, tying an odd record. Only one TOUR winner in the last decade, Vijay Singh at the 2008 World Golf Championships – Bridgestone Invitational, missed as many. Still, Johnson calmly persevered, as is his wont. “People will always talk about the ball-striking, which is truly amazing,” Paul Casey said of Johnson after shooting a final-round 66 to finish 16th. “But what they fail to mention about Dustin—three things stick out. One, how disciplined he’s become about taking a look at areas of the game where there’s an opportunity. His wedge game, for example. He capitalized on it last year, and you see what’s happening. Two, he has amazing touch for such a strong athlete—just some soft, soft hands, great touch around the greens and on the greens. “And the third, and probably most important statistic—everybody loves that strokes gained statistic,” Casey continued. “Oh, strokes-gained driving, oh, strokes-gained putting. Nobody ever talks about strokes-gained mentally, strokes-gained attitude. Strokes-gained attitude, he’s probably number one. Because he’s just like, I made double. Yeah. I made eagle. Yeah. [Laughs] It’s brilliant! He’s just got it. That to me is the third element.” When he birdied the eighth and ninth holes to take a four-shot lead, Johnson looked like he might run away and hide. Playing partner and 54-hole leader Justin Thomas (72, T5) was fighting his swing, and Rory McIlroy (71, T7), the third member of their group, was showing signs of rust after his month-and-a-half layoff due to a rib injury. But Johnson bogeyed 12 and 13 while rookie Jon Rahm was surging. Rahm took the lead after a birdie at the par-5 15th hole put him 5 under for the day. D.J. was slipping. No te preocupes. “I didn’t feel I hit any bad shots there when I made those two bogeys,” Johnson said. He calmly made his own birdie on 15, from an awkward stance in the greenside bunker. Tie ballgame. Then Rahm fell back with his own pair of bogeys, Ross Fisher (65, -12) ran out of holes to birdie, and Fleetwood finished at 13 under. Johnson merely needed to par in, which he did thanks in part to mastering another awkward lie in the sand, this one from 127 yards, left of the 18th fairway. He used a 54-degree wedge to hit what he called it his best shot of the week. Johnson two-putted for the win; did a quick TV hit; accepted bro-hugs from friends Rickie Fowler and Brooks Koepka (they were scheduled to share a private plane ride with Johnson back to South Florida); and went to talk to the golf writers. What did he tell himself as all those putts slid past the hole? “Everyone’s struggling,” he said. “The greens are just very tricky. I know i’ve just got to stay patient. Eventually I’m going to make something. I know I’m hitting it really well so I know I’m going to continue to have looks.” In claiming the WGC – Mexico Championship, the laconic 32-year-old became just the fifth man to win in his first PGA TOUR start as world No. 1. Sunday’s victory was his second of the season and second in his last two starts (Genesis Open, Feb. 19). So the WGC you won at Doral moves south of the border to a city you’ve never seen, a course you’ve never played, demanding more irons than drivers off the tee? No te preocupes. Johnson played nine holes Tuesday, the other nine Wednesday, and that was enough to develop his Chapultepec gameplan. His fourth WGC title puts him second alone to Tiger Woods (18) on the list of all-time WGC victories. Half-jokingly, he was asked if he can catch Woods. “I’m going to try,” Johnson said. How long can he maintain this run? Early last season, more focused than he’d ever been as a new father—he and Paulina Gretzky have a son and are expecting another—Johnson started to practice his wedge play in a way he never had before. Result: He was Player of the Year. This year? It feels the same, Johnson said. “It hasn’t really let up any,” Johnson said. “i’ve got a lot of confidence in the game. I feel like I’m controlling my ball very well and I feel like my driver’s—you know, I’m starting to driver a little straighter, which if I can drive it straight I’m going to play well every week.” Well, maybe not every week. Johnson isn’t scheduled to play again until the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, March 22-26. He’ll then tee it up at the Shell Houston Open before rolling into Augusta National for the Masters. But what if he did play every week? Could he win every week? This season alone he’s two for—wait, how many tournaments has he played so far this season? (Correct answer: six) “I don’t know,” Johnson said with a smile. “I don’t keep track of the losses.”  

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