The PGA Tour heads south to Mexico this week for the WGC-Mexico Championship. A field of 65 players will tackle the Club de Golf Chapultepec, which is hosting the no-cut event for the second straight year.
Be sure to join the all-new Golf Channel Fantasy Challenge - including a new One & Done game offering - to compete for prizes and form your own leagues, and log on to www.playfantasygolf.com to submit your picks for this week’s event.
Dustin Johnson won this event last year by one shot over Tommy Fleetwood. Here are 10 names to watch in Mexico City:
1. Justin Thomas: Thomas topped the rankings last week and went on to win the Honda Classic, so no reason to knock him off the top perch. With seven wins in his last 31 starts, Thomas has now reeled off five straight top-25 finishes and returns to a course where he tied for fifth last year.
2. Dustin Johnson: The world No. 1 returns to Mexico to defend the title that he captured a year ago amid the height of his powers. Johnson’s advantage off the tee is only accentuated by the elevation of Mexico City, and he showed last year that the tight targets are no issue. In his last start, he turned what felt like a middling performance into a T-16 at Riviera.
3. Jon Rahm: Rahm will play the first two rounds with the two men above him in power rankings, as he looks to keep Thomas from passing him in the OWGR. The Spaniard took a couple weeks off after a West Coast stretch that included his win in Palm Springs and a runner-up at Kapalua. Finished third here a year ago.
4. Alex Noren: Noren will win a PGA Tour event this year; it’s simply a matter of when. Weeks after the Swede lost in a marathon playoff at Torrey Pines, he finished third last week at PGA National and missed the playoff by a shot. Noren’s ball-striking remains world-class, and he has now rattled off four straight top-25 finishes to start the year.
5. Phil Mickelson: After three straight top-10s, it’s reasonable to believe that Mickelson is playing his best golf since his last win five years ago. Lefty has come out of the gates strong in 2018, despite his 48th birthday fast approaching, and now he encounters a course where he finished T-7 a year ago during a stretch that included far less momentum.
6. Tommy Fleetwood: Fleetwood challenged for his first U.S. victory last week, only to fade over the final five holes. It was still an impressive fourth-place showing for the Englishman who won earlier this year in Abu Dhabi and tied for sixth in Dubai. While the calendar hasn’t yet hit March, it’s clear he hasn’t lost any steam off a breakthrough 2017 that included a Race to Dubai title.
7. Justin Rose: Rose tends to play a scant early-season schedule, and this year is no exception. But his two starts in 2018 both yielded positive results, with a T-22 finish in Abu Dhabi followed by a T-8 finish at Torrey Pines. Rose is only a couple months removed from his torrid close to 2017 and he hasn’t finished outside the top 25 since missing the cut at the PGA Championship.
8. Sergio Garcia: Garcia’s run-up toward his Masters title defense continues this week in Mexico, where he finished T-12 last year. The Spaniard didn’t factor at PGA National, but a T-33 finish was still a relatively solid way to kick off the rust after skipping the three weeks prior.
9. Rickie Fowler: Fowler made a surprising early exit last week in defense of his Honda title, missing a cut for the second time in his last three starts. But he nearly won his start in between, a T-11 finish in Phoenix, and Fowler cracked the top-20 here a year ago. I’m willing to chalk up last week’s regression to the vagaries of the Champion Course.
10. Paul Casey: The Englishman has finished inside the top 20 in each of his last six WGC appearances, a run that dates back to the 2016 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. While Casey seems unlikely to hoist the trophy given the nine-year gap since his lone PGA Tour victory, chances are high that he’ll cash a big check in pursuit of the hardware.