Focus of golf world is on Mexico this week

MEXICO CITY — Golf in Mexico City is buzzing this week.

Hundreds of fans, many of them children, leaned against the ropes behind the 18th green as Rory McIlroy finished up a practice round at Chapultepec Golf Club. They screamed his name and shrieked when McIlroy walked their way to sign their programs, flags and hats. Until Wednesday, odds are they had only seen him on television.

Golf in Miami has gone silent this week. For 55 years consecutive years, Doral was a staple of the Florida swing, even when it became a World Golf Championship in 2007. Donald Trump bought the resort in 2012 and promised to make it “one of the great places anywhere in the world for golf.” The PGA Tour signed a deal that would keep it at Doral through 2023, unless a new sponsor didn’t want to be there.

And that’s why it’s no longer there.

In the middle of his presidential campaign, Trump lost business to Mexico, of all places. It was more about finances than politics for the PGA Tour, which couldn’t find a sponsor that wanted to be at Trump Doral.

The Mexico Championship, which starts today with the strongest field of the year, is now sponsored by Grupo Salinas.

The Mexico Championship has a different feel in so many ways, starting with the thin air of a club at nearly 7,800 feet.

Dustin Johnson, who makes his debut as the No. 1 player in the world, has been crunching numbers on his TrackMan to get a sense of how far the ball is going.

Jordan Spieth went out for nine holes Monday afternoon and after his first two approach shots went over the back of the green, he smiled and said, “Whoa. Ball go far.”