DJ wises up with wedge

Well, that was fairly decisive. In an event that had most of the hallmarks of a major championship, Dustin Johnson confirmed his new World No 1 ranking with victory in the first WGC Mexico Championship.

Even with the class (Rory, Phil), the form horses (Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm) and the other usual suspects (Jordan Spieth, Lee Westwood) all nosing about the top of the leaderboard, DJ won for the second time in three weeks.

He’d previously won this same event at the very different old venue of Doral, and it’s his 14th tour title in all.

After years of being typecast as a man who found creative ways to lose events, Johnson has suddenly become almost a sure thing.

DJ is just the fifth player to win his first event after moving to the top of the rankings.

The first man to do it? Ian Woosnam, would you believe.

But the oddity of his victory was once again how poor he was on the greens. You might recall Johnson finished in the high 60s in putting stats when he won the US Open last June, making a mockery of the accepted wisdom that the Oakmont greens were the sole arbiter of whoever was victorious there.

He was even worse at Club Golf Chapultepec: a frankly astonishing nine for 17 for putts inside five feet. That’s 74th out of a field of 76.

Power helps, but everybody had an advantage in Mexico City due to altitude.

The difference, it seems, was Johnson’s vastly improved wedge game, an area where some had him as clueless just a season or two ago.

Despite that laid-back, virtually horizontal demeanour, there’s a player who has wised up to what’s required to be a consistent champion.

He’s now as low as 6-1 for the Masters, although I suspect his putting might come under more pressure there than it did in Mexico City.

He plans just two more starts – the WGC Matchplay in Austin and the Houston Open the following week – prior to Augusta.

No need to fret about Rory

The leader at the halfway point, Rory McIlroy, fizzled out over the weekend at Chapultepec, finishing in a tie for seventh place when he was just two off the lead going into the final round.

Because he looked so superb in Friday’s 65, we all forgot this was his first event in six weeks after resting for a stress fracture in the ribs.

It was inevitable that fatigue – allied to a dose of Mexi-belly, and the fact they were playing at altitude, which hammered a few of the caddies and players – would catch up with him over the final two rounds.

A tie for seventh is pretty good work under the circumstances.

Another couple of events and he’ll be right as rain for Augusta.

Mexico City a huge hit

Contrary to the warnings from some, the first WGC event in Mexico turned out to be an enormous plus.

Yes, some of the local conditions took a bit of getting used to, but the Chapultepec course proved a delight, with many players expressing their preference to its strategic charms compared to Doral, which became a boring sluggers’ slog of a course since Trump got his hands on it.

The galleries were huge and enthusiastic, and a lot younger than most of those seen week to week on the PGA Tour.

Most players seem to have had a positive experience, and it’s definitely worth a regular stop, specifically if it does mean the name of World Golf Championship actually fits better, even if we’re only crossing the one border.

Rules tinkering broadly positive

I must be in a sunny mood, with spring upon us, to be totally absent of negatives in this week’s T2G.

I mean, even the handiwork of the R&A and USGA with their rules simplifications last week gets broad approval.

But you know me, in every silver lining there’s a cloud. While I’m hugely in favour of the many tinkerings to speed up play – take that, Jason Day and the PGA Tour – I see the rule to allow repairing of spike marks to be a can of worms.

Even when it was banned, some nefarious characters were shameless in patting them down.

Now they can do so freely, I’d imagine nothing short of cosmetic surgery will be attempted by some fussy pros, and that’s hardly going to speed-up play.

Martin Slumbers of the R&A didn’t flag up the new rule to stop caddies lining up players when asked the other week, but there it is in black and white, and hugely welcome.

I understand half the LPGA are furious, but tough. It’s ludicrous that professional golfers feel they need to be pointed in the right direction.

And in the same spirit, I’m totally for Ian Poulter’s suggestion that greens books should be banned. Caddie assistance is allowed in reading putts, of course, but that should be the limit of it. It slows the game down on every green and is just another crutch for what should be a basic skill of the sport.

The oddity of Johnson’s victory was once again just how poor he was on the greens

Picture: Getty. Dustin Johnson, seen with Rory McIlroy, was 74th out of 76 players in short putts in Mexico but still won.