Despite altitude, shots still matter in Mexico

MEXICO CITY >> One of the intriguing aspects of the Mexico Championship is the thin air and the long ball.

Chapultepec Golf Club is approaching 7,800 feet above sea level, making it the highest altitude most of the players in this World Golf Championships event will see all year.

But that’s not what wins the tournament.

Just ask the defending champion.

Dustin Johnson still smiles at one of the best shots he hit all year — a sand wedge. His lead was down to one shot when Tommy Fleetwood made birdie on the 18th hole, and Johnson tugged his tee shot into a wicked spot in the bunker.

“The ball was below my feet. It was not sitting great,” Johnson said. “And I didn’t really have anywhere to miss it coming out of where I was. It was either hit a good shot or I was probably going into a playoff.”

He hit one of the most underappreciated shots of the year to about 20 feet for a two-putt par and a oneshot victory. It was his fifth World Golf Championships title in his first start at No. 1 in the world, a position he has kept all year.

Justin Thomas was playing in the final group and remembers it well.

“Hands down,” he said when asked if it was one of the better shots of the tournament.

“I was in the fairway and saw Tommy make birdie on 18,” Thomas said. “There’s a tree on the left that was in his way. The ball was below his feet, and there’s quite a bit of sand in those bunkers. He had to catch it perfectly.”

And he did.

“We were walking to the green and converged about 20 yards short, and I just looked at him,” Thomas said, raising his eyebrows. “He said, ‘I don’t want that one back.’ ”

One of Johnson’s biggest highlights this year was the drive he hit 432 yards, 6 inches on the 433-yard 12th hole at Kapalua, which he won by eight shots. In that case, the hole really was cut 6 inches from where his ball stopped rolling. It was a great shot to be anywhere on the green, and it was symbolic of Johnson’s power.

But there’s more to his game. And there’s a lot more to playing Chapultepec.

Jordan Spieth, whose 63 was the low round of the tournament last year, wasn’t in the final group and didn’t see the shot until it was shown on TVs around the club this week. He thought it was a reasonable example of how thin air and outrageous distances make for nice tales, but not necessarily trophies.

“There’s only a couple of holes where it makes that much of a difference,” Spieth said. “Length really doesn’t matter out here. What DJ did was control his distance and wedge play.” HELP FOR PUERTO RICO >> Emma Talley has never been to Puerto Rico and probably couldn’t name any of winners in 10 years of the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open. But she’s aware of the plight of Puerto Ricans still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Maria, and the LPGA Tour rookie jumped at the chance to help.

Talley is among 19 players from the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour who are taking part in the Puerto Rico Open Charity Pro-Am this weekend that aims to raise $500,000 to help with recovery efforts. The Puerto Rico Open, scheduled for this week, cannot be played as the island works toward recovery.

Among the PGA Tour players taking part is defending champion D.A. Points.