DJ HOLDS OFF RORY CHARGE
Johnson closes in on world No 1 spot
Justin Rose’s lead at the top of the world rankings is now literally down to a fraction of a single point following victory for the resurgent Dustin Johnson over Rory Mcilroy in the WGC Mexico Championship yesterday.
the American won by a margin of five strokes over the northern irishman after closing with a 66 for a 21-under-par total of 263.
Runner-up Mcilroy shot an impressive 67 of his own for his fourth straight top- five finish from four starts this season.
it says much for how this pair dominated that Mcilroy finished five shots ahead of the trio who shared third place — Paul Casey, who shot 65, thai Kiradech Aphibarnrat and another englishman, ian Poulter, who continued his strong start to the season with a 68.
tiger Woods, playing for the first time in Mexico, concluded with a 69 to squeeze inside the top 10.
While this ended up being a convincing win for Johnson, it only moved in that direction following another major talking point in this season that has featured one controversy after another.
heading to the fifth hole, Johnson was clearly jumpy having seen his four- shot overnight lead halved by Mcilroy. here Johnson’s troubles continued, as his tee shot finished right up against a tree. or so it seemed.
he appeared to have no shot, but Johnson argued that his stance to play out sideways would necessitate his heel being on a cart path.
european tour referee Mike stewart gave him the benefit of the doubt and so Johnson was allowed a free drop within one club’s length — an extraordinary piece of good luck, since he now had a shot to the green, and he capitalised fully to make an outrageous par.
it almost defied belief that on the very next hole Mcilroy should hit his wayward tee shot into an almost identical spot.
Again, he tried to argue that his stance would involve placing his foot on a cart path, but this was plainly a more dubious claim. thankfully, stewart was having none of it, stood strong and refused a drop.
Mcilroy took his decision with good grace, but the two incidents demonstrated it can be a fine line when trying to win. Mcilroy bogeyed the hole, but Johnson birdied it and that was all the momentum shift the latter needed.
Credit Mcilroy for sticking at it and playing the back nine in five under par. some of his shotmaking was sublime and he holed his share of putts as well.
everything continues to move in the right direction with regard to his pursuit of the career Grand slam at the Masters in April.
Johnson matched him stroke for stroke coming home, also playing the inward half in five under par, to follow up his victory earlier this month in the saudi international. this was his 20th PGA tour success, and, since 1960, he’s just the ninth player to achieve that mark before the age of 35 — a group that also includes Woods, Jack nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Phil Mickelson.