Johnson brightest of stars on PGA

MEXICO CITY — Fresh off his victory at Riviera that elevated Dustin Johnson to the top of the world ranking, the question was how he would handle the expectations and attention that come with being No. 1.

“I’ve only been No. 1 for about 30 minutes,” he said. “Ask me in a couple of weeks.” Two weeks later, there was no need. Johnson faced the strongest field of the year at the Mexico Championship. He was so preoccupied with how far the ball was flying at nearly 7,800 feet that he played only 18 holes over two practice days at Chapultepec Golf Club. The greens were so perplexing that he converted only nine of 17 putts from inside five feet, and he missed six putts from the six-foot range or closer in the opening round alone. And he still won. Johnson is not obsessed with the world ranking. But he understands he is the target now, and he embraces it.

“You look at the leaderboard, there’s a few names you don’t want to see,” Johnson said. “Mine would be one of them.”

He doesn’t claim that measure of intimidation to be his alone. No one wanted to see Rory McIlroy’s name anywhere near the top when his three straight victories in the summer of 2014 were a World Golf Championship sandwiched between two majors. No one wanted any part of Jordan Spieth in 2015 when he was pursuing the Grand Slam, or Jason Day when he was winning seven times in 17 tournaments, including a record score in the PGA Championship.

“The competition is so good out there it’s a joke,” Johnson said. “There’s a few guys out there that have a target.”

Johnson now has won five PGA Tour victories in his last 15 starts dating to the U.S. Open last summer at Oakmont.