Johnson wins debut as top-ranked player
Three straight pars secure Mexico Championship.
Dust i n Jo hns o n d i d n’t f l i nc h when a c ha l l e nge arrived out of nowhere Sunday, playing mistake-free over the final five holes to win the Mexico Championship in his debut as the No. 1 player in the world.
Johnson’s four-shot lead going to the back nine turned into a one-shot deficit when Spanish rookie Jon Rahm ran off an eagle and two birdies at Chapultepec Golf Club in Mexico City. Johnson caught him with a birdie on the par-5 15th, and closed with three solid pars for a 3-under 68.
Rahm had gone 59 holes without a three-putt until taking two in a row at the worst time to fall back.
Johnson’s last test was from a fairway bunker on the 18th, and he blasted that out to the middle of the green for a two-putt par and a oneshot victory over Tommy Fleetwood of England.
“I didn’t feel like I putted my best, but I really hit the ball well,” Johnson said. “I played just well enough, because I won by one.”
Johnson became the fifth player to win in his first tournament as No. 1 in the world. His fourth World Golf Championship title is second on the career list behind Tiger Woods, who won 18 times since the series began in 1999.
It was quite the consolation prize for the 26-yearold Fleetwood.
His 40-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 66 put him alone in second and secured a spot in the Masters for the first time. He moves to No. 35 in the world and is certain to stay in the top 50 over the next three weeks before the cutoff to get an invitation to Augusta National.
Rahm’s two late bogeys gave him a 68 and a tie for third with Ross Fisher, who closed with three straight birdies for a 65. That assures Fisher a place in the next WGC event in three week at the Dell Match Play.
Johnson looked as though he had this wrapped up when he made the turn.
He went long on the par-5 sixth, over the pin and up on a hill into the gallery, leaving what appeared to be a tough flop shot. The gallery ropes were down, and Johnson asked that the rope be removed from the ground so he could play a chip down the slope and onto the green. He pulled it off beautifully and made birdie, then rolled in a sliding 30-foot birdie putt on No. 8 and a 10-foot birdie on No. 9.
And then just like that, his lead was gone.
Rahm made an eagle putt from 15 feet on No. 11, and Johnson three-putted the 12th and made another bogey on the 13th from a bunker. They were tied at that point, and Rahm briefly went ahead with his birdie on the 15th. That was as close as he got. Johnson was steady right to the end to c apture his 14th career victory on the PGA Tour, and his second straight. He reached No. 1 in the world two weeks ago with a five-shot victory at Riviera. And except for a few nervous moments on the back nine, he looked just as dominant.
The most recent player to win in his debut at No. 1 was Adam Scott at the Colonial in 2014.
“It’s a tough spot to be in,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot of pressure on you. I came out and played really well.”
LPGA Tour: Inbee Park u s e d h e r s e l f - d e s c r i b e d “amazing” putting to win the HSBC Women’s Champions tournament in Singapore by one stroke Sunday after closing with an 8-under 64.
The South Korean finished at 19-under 269 at the Sentosa Golf Club, one shot clear of her playing partner Ariya Jutanugarn, who was second after a 66.
Sung Hyun Park (68) was third, a shot further back, wh i l e o v e r n i g h t l e a d e r Michelle Wie dropped into a tie for fourth after a 72.
Wie was two in front after making birdies on the second and third holes before her round unraveled when she four-putted for a double-bogey on the par-5 fifth.
“S t u f f h a pp e n s s o me - times,” Wie said. “Sometimes you just 4-putt and you’ve just got to carry on with your life.”
Australasian PG Tour: Australian Jarryd Felton won the New Zealand PGA Championship on Sunday with a birdie on the first hole of a three-way playoff with compatriot Josh Younger and New Zealand’s Ben Campbell.
European PGA Tour: Dean Burmester finished with a 65 for a convincing three - shot vic tor y at the Tshwane Open in Pretoria, South Africa, his first European Tour title.
The South African came from a shot off the lead overnight to win on 18-under-par 266 at Pretoria Country Club.
Glenn Robinson III hit a 3-pointer with .6 of a second left, Paul George scored 34 points and Indiana rallied from a 96-90 deficit in the final 1:43. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 24 points for Atlanta.
Stephen Curry scored 31 points and Klay Thompson 29 as the Warriors ended a two-game losing streak. Curry was 5 for 13 on 3-pointers and Thompson 4 of 9 as both ended slumps. Curry had been 4 for 31 from beyond the arc and Thompson 7 of 33 in the previous three games. Derrick Rose scored 28 for the Knicks.
Rookie Tyler Ulis made a 3-pointer at the buzzer after a Boston turnover, and Phoenix won with five points in the final four seconds. After Eric Bledsoe tied it with a layup, Marquese Chriss knocked the ball away from Isaiah Thomas on the inbounds, and Ulis grabbed it and scored the last of his career-high 20 points. Thomas scored 35 but missed a free throw with 11.9 seconds left.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 15 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter and made a careerhigh eight 3-pointers as Washington rallied from a 17-point third-quarter deficit. Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 32 points.
Rudy Gobert tipped in George Hill’s missed jumper as time expired on a play that officials initially ruled as basket interference. A video review showed a winning basket, and Gobert finished with 16 points and 24 rebounds. Rodney Hood scored a season-high 28.
Seth Curry scored 22 points and Dirk Nowitzki had 18 points and 12 rebounds for Dallas. Russell Westbrook scored 29 for the Thunder. He was whistled for a technical and a flagrant-one foul during a 21-4 third-quarter run in which Dallas blew open the game.
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