2017 WGC-Mexico Championship results: Dustin Johnson takes home 2nd straight victory

He’s one-for-one as Number One.

After a brilliant debut week for the PGA Tour in Mexico City with huge crowds and a star-studded leaderboard, Dustin Johnson picked up his second straight PGA Tour win with a final-round 68 on Sunday at the WGC Mexico Championship. It comes in Johnson’s first start after reaching the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking in late February.

After Saturday’s cathartic, couldn’t-miss day of golf, a winner of Johnson’s magnitude seemed certain for the debut of the new WGC event. With Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, and Johnson paired in the final group and Phil Mickelson just behind, Sunday seemed certain to deliver golf’s best day of what’s already been a fantastic year for the game. It still was for the most part, but front-nine stumbles for McIlroy, Thomas, and Mickelson were something of a buzzkill right out of the gates. Each would rally later on in the day, but it was too little, too late after Johnson had stretched his lead out to four with nine holes to play.

That didn’t mean the finish at Chapultepec was without drama. Not at all. With the headliners faltering early, a trio of Europe’s young stars seized the opportunity to put themselves in position if DJ stumbled down the stretch. Thomas Pieters, Jon Rahm, and Tommy Fleetwood acted as a more-than-solid replacement supporting cast for Johnson’s back nine.

After back-to-back Johnson bogeys on the 12th and 13th holes, Rahm was able to pull square with DJ with this bomb on the 14th, evaporating Johnson’s four-stroke lead in just a handful of holes.

The former college player of the year at Arizona State then birdied the 15th to take the lead all his own, but immediately stumbled. Two critical bogeys from Rahm on 16 and 17 gave Johnson a two-stroke advantage heading to the 18th for what seemed to be a comfortable cushion to finish. But with DJ waiting back on the tee, Fleetwood, a 26-year-old Englishman, dropped this bomb on the final green to get within one.

A slightly wayward iron left of the fairway into the bunker off the tee from Johnson seemed to give Fleetwood hope, but it was all quashed with one of the best shots of the season from the world’s best player.

DJ becomes just the third player to win a WGC event while ranked No. 1 in the world, joining only McIlroy and Tiger Woods. Here are three other quick takeaways from Mexico.

Plenty can change in golf in a month. Guys get hurt, some will fall out of form, others will find it.

Sure, sure — there are still quality events to come before we head down Magnolia Lane. Plenty of Florida-based stars will tee it up at Innisbrook and Bay Hill, and we’ll have another WGC event coming in Austin, but it’s a match play format.

Chapultepec won’t be confused by anyone for Augusta National, but it perhaps acted as preview for the Masters in a month’s time with a high-quality, loaded field and a number of big names in contention down the stretch. Rory showed some competitive rust. Phil started hitting it god-knows-where. JT wasn’t quite able to close. Jordan Spieth continued to quietly play well, but never seriously contended at the top of the leaderboard.

Johnson is your Masters favorite, for now. And for very good reason.

Are you the parent of a young European golf phenom? Send them to the US for college, I guess!

After another fine performance on the game’s biggest stage, Rahm will continue his vault up the world rankings. Pieters won’t be far behind. The two young Euros looked the part playing alongside Johnson, Mickelson, McIlroy, and company. Pieters’ splash at the Ryder Cup and Rahm’s win earlier this year weren’t fluke performances. Both players are the kinds of uber-talents who should contend at these WGC-type events for decades. The majors will come, too, and maybe sooner than you think.

Nobody got kidnapped, as some crazed tweets predicted. Everything was fine. In fact, everything was fantastic. Big crowds. A unique track. Fantastic leaderboard. What’s not to love about the Mexico Championship?

Some love Doral, which is fine. But the WGC events have long been criticized as not being “world golf championships” at all, as most have historically been played in Arizona, Florida, California, Texas, and Ohio. Hmmmmmmmm.

Golf has long had a diversity and inclusion problem. The move from Trump Doral to Mexico City was good and after a brilliant week those that made that decision are probably having the last laugh.