Johnson targets par-fives for Shanghai win
Dustin Johnson will be looking to ride his booming drive to victory when he begins his 2017-18 season in a stellar field at the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament this weekend.
The world No 1 will face stiff competition when he chases his third World Golf Championship title of the year, with five of the top 10 in the world teeing off at the Sheshan International course on Thursday.
Johnson, who won the WGC-Mexico and WGC-Dell Match Play earlier in 2017, said he would be targeting the parfives in his bid to reclaim the trophy he won four years ago.
“I like the golf course,” Johnson told the European Tour website. “I think it fits my game pretty well. You’ve got to do everything well. You can make a lot of birdies here if you’re driving it well and, for me, playing the par-fives well [is key].”
Johnson has not played since a brilliant performance as part of a winning US team at the Presidents Cup about three weeks ago. He skipped the first two events of the PGA Tour’s Asian swing in Malaysia and South Korea, allowing his compatriots to steal the limelight.
Justin Thomas claimed his third victory in seven starts when he beat Marc Leishman in a play-off at the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges on Sunday.
World No 3 Thomas is skipping this week, however, as is British Open champion and No 2 Jordan Spieth.
There will be plenty of star power on display, though, including Spain’s Jon Rahm and Japanese defending champion Hideki Matsuyama.
“This tournament was the catalyst for the best 12 months of my career so far and to defend my title would really cap it all off,” Matsuyama said.
“But the WGC-HSBC Champions field just seems to get better and better, so I know I’ve got a battle on my hands.”
Others in the field include Australian former world No 1s Jason Day and Adam Scott, as well as US veteran Phil Mickelson, the winner at Sheshan in 2007 and 2009.
The HSBC Champions is the only WGC event played outside North America and Johnson hopes the long trip across the Pacific will be worthwhile.
He was unstoppable early in 2017 and a favourite heading into the first major at the Masters only for a fall on the eve of the tournament to end his bid for a green jacket.
He has not played badly since but has not quite reproduced his pre-injury form. However, his 4-0-1 record at the Presidents Cup suggests he is close.
“I’m not travelling all the way to China just to have a good time. I’m coming here to play golf,” he said.