WGC-Mexico Championship Preview And Players To Watch
The PGA Tour heads to Mexico this week for the first WGC event of the year.
This week the PGA Tour makes a stop at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico for what is the first World Golf Championship event of the year.
We don’t know too much about this track as it is just the second time this event has been held here (last year was the first), but the one thing we do know is the narrative all week is going to be all about the elevation. Seriously, you’ll probably get sick of the words elevation and altitude this week, but hey, it is the most high-altitude course on the PGA Tour at 7,835 feet above sea level.
Elevation will play a huge factor as the ball will one-hundred percent fly further than it does literally anywhere else on Tour. Last year’s average off the tee during this even was over 317 yards.
Dustin Johnson proved the point last year at this even that the long bombers have an edge as he took home the victory at -14 on the week edging Tommy Fleetwood by one shot. Jon Rahm finished tied for third, while Tomas Pieters and Justin Thomas both tied for fifth further proving that the longer guys on Tour ate up this course a year ago.
One thing that this elevation does allow the huge hitters to do is club down on a few holes while the shorter players in the field, Matt Kuchar for example, may still be pulling driver off some tees. This course is a bit different in layout, too, with treelined fairways and a number of doglegs. Nevertheless, expect to see mostly everyone in this field that keeps it out of trouble have wedges in their hands during most shots into the green.
The field is loaded this week as it always is during any WGC event and things should be a ton of fun down in Mexico with the likes of Jordan Spieth, Rahm, Johnson, Phil Mickelson and plenty other high-profiled names.
For those getting in on any Draft Kings or Fanduel action , remember, there is no cut at this event so that may throw a wrinkle in your usual strategies.
Winner, Sleeper And The Do Not Touch Player This Week
Winner: Tommy Fleetwood
As previously mentioned, Fleetwood finished second here last year and he’s heading into this week in fantastic form. He won the HSCB at Abu Dhabi back in January, finished in a tie for sixth the next week at the Dubai Desert Classic and just last week at the Honda Classic he finished solo fourth. The two big stats you need to know about the Englishman is he’s second on Tour in strokes gained tee to green (2.212) and fourth in total strokes gained (2.188).
Sleeper: Tony Finau
If you want to take a long knocker this week, it doesn’t get any longer than Finau. He leads the Tour in driving distance averaging 327 yards off the tee, but he also sits 188th on Tour when it comes to driving accuracy. He finished in a tie for second at Riviera a couple weeks ago and some like to compare this course this week to Riviera, so that’s something to consider as well. He can take it low this week, as long as his putter gets working.
Do Not Touch: Ross Fisher
Fisher finished in a tie for third at this even last year after setting the course on fire with a final-round 65 on Sunday so based on that alone people are talking about a repeat performance. I just don’t see it happening in his first Tour event of the year especially seeing as how he isn’t entering in the best of forms. Yes, he did finish second in the HSBC where Fleetwood won, but in his lone other even this season was late January in Dubai where he finished T-45.
OddsShark’s odds this week: Dustin Johnson +600, Justin Thomas +800, Jon Rahm +1200, Jordan Spieth +1200, Tommy Fleetwood +1600, Rickie Fowler +1600, Phil Mickelson +1800, Justin Rose +2200.
