USA TODAY International Edition
D. Johnson headlines strong WGC field
After traveling halfway across the world, Dustin Johnson feels right at home.
The world No. 1 makes his 2017-18 debut in the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai. Johnson, who last played in The Presidents Cup, where he went 4-0-1 in the USA’s rout of the Internationals on Sept. 28-Oct. 1, won the HSBC event in 2013.
It was the first of his five WGC victories, a total topped only by Tiger Woods, who has 18 WGC titles. Johnson has won three of the last five WGC contests: He won the 2016 Bridgestone Invitational and the 2017 Dell Technologies Match Play Championship and the 2017 Mexico Championship.
He is the only player to win all four WGC titles.
“They are very important tournaments. They are big tournaments. They bring together the best players in the world,” said Johnson, who won four of his 16 PGA Tour titles last season. “My game will probably be a little rusty, but hopefully we can shake it off before the first round.”
The HSBC Champions brings together 78 of the best players from around the world.
Johnson is one of five players in the field ranked in the top 10, joined by No. 4 Hideki Matsuyama, No. 5 Jon Rahm, No. 8 Jason Day and No. 9 Henrik Stenson. Among others in the field are reigning U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka (No. 11 in the world), reigning Players champion Si Woo Kim and Phil Mickelson.
Defending champion Matsuyama is another favorite along with Johnson. Together the two have won the last five WGC titles. Matsuyama won last year’s edition of the HSBC Champions by seven shots over Stenson and Daniel Berger. With rounds of 66-65-6866, he finished at 23-under-par 265, just one shot off the tournament record set by Johnson in 2013.
Matsuyama also won last season’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, where he shot a finalround 61 to win by five.
Another big player to watch is the golf course, which Woods once called “the crowning jewel of all of Asian golf.” The 7,266yard, par-72 layout features massive elevation changes, a natural quarry and 1,000-year-old gingko trees.
Mickelson, who won in 2007 and 2009 at Sheshan before the tournament was designated as a WGC event, said the course is fun to play.
“It has a good mixture of birdie holes and tough pars, and I always like that,” Mickelson said. “I like how the par-5s are reachable, and there are some drivable par-4s. But there are some really long, tight par-4s and long, tough par-3s. It’s a great mix.” Chip-ins: Cody Gribble is back to defend his title in this week’s Sanderson Farms Championship at Country Club of Jackson in Mississippi. This opposite field event on the PGA Tour brings together 132 players, including former world No. 1 Luke Donald (who won the tournament in 2002) and major champions Retief Goosen (2001 and 2004 U.S. Opens), Angel Cabrera (2007 U.S. Open and 2009 Masters) and Davis Love III (1997 PGA). …
Gribble shot a 7-under-par 65 in last year’s final round to win by four shots over Luke List, Chris Kirk and Greg Owen. …
Also in the field is Sam Burns, 21, who is the reigning Division I Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year winner. He is making his PGA Tour debut as a professional. Playing for LSU in 2016-17, he won four events. Last July, he finished in a tie for sixth in the Tour’s Barbasol Championship playing as an amateur. …
The U.S. Golf Association announced Tuesday that historic Pebble Beach Golf Links will host the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2027 U.S. Open. Pebble Beach also will host the 2018 U.S. Amateur and the 2019 U.S. Open. Winners of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach are Jack Nicklaus (1972), Tom Watson (1982), Tom Kite (1992), Woods (2000) and Graeme McDowell (2010).