McIlroy in Dustin duel as Westwood suffers a dismal day at Chapultepec

RORY McILROY was battling to remain in touch with Dustin Johnson in the fight for the world No.1 spot as Lee Westwood’s bid for victory disappeared in the £7.9m WGC-Mexico Championship.

Westwood was within a shot of the lead after birdies on the first and fourth at Chapultepec Golf Club.

However he found water on the sixth and missed from three feet for bogey, before taking four to get down from off the green on the par-three seventh.

Consecutive double bogeys dropped Westwood back to seven under and six off the pace being set by Johnson.

Johnson began the final round a shot behind Justin Thomas, who birdied at the first before dropping a shot on the second.

Playing partner Johnson birdied the same hole to draw level and picked up another shot on the par-five sixth, before Thomas found water with a terrible tee shot on the seventh to run up a double bogey.

That left Johnson on 13 under par and two clear of Belgium’s Thomas Pieters with Spain’s Jon Rahm alongside Thomas on 10 under.

McIlroy was a shot further back after two bogeys and a birdie in his first seven holes, three-putting the seventh from long range. Johnson birdied the eighth and ninth to extend his lead to four shots with nine to play.

McIlroy was now six shots off the pace and not helped by seeing his drive on the ninth come to rest in an old divot. Westwood’s miserable day went on with a third double bogey in the space of four holes on the ninth, where he four-putted from 45 feet.