Comparing the putters of Hideki Matsuyama and his hero, Tiger Woods

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THE OVERVIEW Club de Golf Chapultepec is in the heart of Mexico, but based on last year’s results, it may be the most European of courses on the PGA TOUR. Consider the leaderboard at the 2017 World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship: Although American Dustin Johnson was the winner, the next four finishers were from Europe. Of the top 10 players, six were from Europe, and of the 27 players who finished T25 or better, there were more Europeans (13) than Americans (12). That’s not a ratio we see very often on the PGA TOUR. The Open Championship, of course, may favor Europeans since it’s played in the United Kingdom and has more Europeans in the field. Obviously, World Golf Championships fields generally will have a higher ratio of Europeans than regular PGA TOUR events, since several of this week’s participants are regulars on the European Tour. Still, perhaps the Europeans have found their comfort zone in the high-altitude course in Mexico City. Of the 65 players in the field, 17 are from Europe – including seven from England. “It is a very European layout,â€� said Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, runner-up last year to Johnson. “Last year it just reminded us of playing in Italy or some of the courses that we play. And it wasn’t just me that played well last year, there were a lot of Europeans up there. “It just is a bit of a European layout, a bit (more) of an old-school golf course (than) ones we’re kind of used to playing a little bit. It’s still different, it’s still a long way above sea level and the greens are a bit (more) slopey than what we’re used to. So there are still differences that we don’t get but just the general feel of when you’re walking down the fairways and seeing the tee shots, it’s tree-lined, that is quite a European feel to it.â€� Ironically, one of Europe’s best players did not fare well in Mexico last year. England’s Justin Rose failed to break 70 in his four rounds, eventually finishing T38 – even though he ranked first in strokes gained: tee to green. He may enter this week as Europe’s hottest player, having won three times in his last eight starts to move to No. 5 in the world. (Spain’s Jon Rahm, at No. 2, is the highest-ranked European in the world.) Rose doesn’t subscribe to the theory that Chapultepec favors long hitters, despite Johnson’s success last year. “It shouldn’t be a golf course that really suits the long hitter,â€� he said. “I think it’s the kind of golf course that suits everybody and offers everybody the opportunity to play well. It’s very strategic, there’s a lot of wedges in hand for most of the field. Yeah, it’s about kind of just getting the ball in the hole this week. “Just from memory, you can be aggressive, you can try and take it over tree lines occasionally. But if you’re on your own, that works for a long hitter, but equally there’s a lot of risk with that as well. So game plan’s very important around here, but I think all types of players can find their way around the golf course.â€� All types of players from all parts of the world, that is. THREE PLAYERS TO PONDER Dustin Johnson Defending champ is the only player to complete the World Golf Championships Slam. Justin Thomas FedExCup champ was the 54-hole leader a year ago before shooting a disappointing 72 on Sunday. Justin Rose His last five wins have come in Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, Turkey and Jakarta. THE FLYOVER The 388-yard 18th is not the shortest par 4 on the course – in fact, there are three par 4s on the front nine that are shorter – but it’s the shortest and easiest par 4 on the back nine, offering players a chance to make up ground with a closing birdie. A year ago, it played to a stroke average of 3.974. THE LANDING ZONE The most difficult hole at Chapultepec is the 525-yard eighth, which just so happens to be the longest par 4 on the course. With a stroke average of 4.359 last year, the hole ranked as the 12th most difficult of all 900 holes on the PGA TOUR last season. Just 24 birdies were made against 104 bogeys, 10 doubles and three others, with the tree-lined fairway and heavily guarded multi-tiered green adding to the challenge. Here is where all tee shots landed last year. WEATHER CHECK From PGA TOUR meteorologist Wade Stettner: “The weather pattern from Thursday through Sunday calls for sunny skies each morning with scattered thunderstorms each afternoon. Thunderstorms tend to develop after 4 p.m. in the mountains to our west and drift in the direction of the upper-level winds. Temperatures will be seasonal this week, with highs in the upper 70s each day and overnight lows in the 50s.â€�  For the latest weather news from Mexico City, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK “I like the course, it’s a fun little track. The course reminds me a lot of the Web(.com Tour) events I played down in South America. I played well in some of those, so I kind of have hopefully those good vibes and just got to hopefully get some more this week.â€� BY THE NUMBERS 7,835 – Altitude, by feet, of the highest point at Chapultepec. The lowest point is 7,603 feet. The course has the highest altitude of any on the PGA TOUR – nearly 2,000 feet higher than Montreux Golf & Country Club in Reno, Nevada. 77 – Number of hole-outs at last year’s WGC-Mexico Championship. That’s the most of any single event in the history of the World Golf Championships. 317.47 – Average distance (by yards) of tee shots at Chapultec last year when using a driver. That was the highest average using a driver of any course on TOUR last year. 528 – Scorecard yardage for the third hole at Chapultepec. Just two other par-4 holes were longer on the PGA TOUR last season – the 17th at Kapalua (549 yards) and the fourth at TPC Four Seasons (529 yards). SCATTERSHOTS Jordan Spieth has not won in his last 13 worldwide starts. That’s his longest drought since the 37 worldwide starts in between his first professional win at the 2013 John Deere Classic and his next win at the 2014 Australian Open. Here are the driving-distance leaders from last year’s event, broken down by club used: Driver (Rory McIlroy at 350.34 yards); Fairway wood (Justin Thomas at 333.52 yards); Iron (Dustin Johnson at 285.13 yards). Six players are making their World Golf Championships debuts this week – Mexico’s Abraham Ancer, Spain’s Jorge Campillo, South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli, Australia’s Wade Ormsby, England’s Chris Paisley and India’s Shubhankar Sharma. There are two fully-exempt players from Mexico on the PGA TOUR – Abraham Ancer (who was born in Texas but raised in Reynosa, Mexico) and Roberto Diaz (born in Veracruz). A year ago, Diaz finished T67, but he is not in the field this week. Ancer is in the field this week as the world’s highest-ranked golfer from Mexico.

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FORT WORTH, Texas — Phil Mickelson kept hearing congratulatory words as he made his way around Colonial, and there was a huge roar from the crowd when the PGA Championship winner made a long putt to finish his round. Jordan Spieth kept making birdies in the same group. RELATED: Leaderboard | Jordan Spieth rolls to bogey-free 63 at Charles Schwab Challenge Spieth shot a 7-under 63 on a breezy Thursday and was tied for the first-round lead at the Charles Schwab Challenge with Sergio Garcia, who had a 15-foot birdie attempt on the 18th hole that circled the edge of the cup but didn’t go in. Both former Colonial champions had bogey-free rounds. The 50-year-old Mickelson, only four days after becoming the oldest winner of a golf major, was 10 strokes back after a 73 that ended with the 22-foot birdie while playing with local favorite Spieth and defending Colonial champion Daniel Berger (68). “Yeah, I didn’t play well,” Mickelson said. “But I won the PGA, so.” Garcia matched the closing 63 he had at Colonial when he got the first of his 11 PGA TOUR wins 20 years ago at age 21. He was 5 under on the four-hole stretch right in the middle of the round. He birdied holes No. 8-10 before an eagle at the 620-yard 11th, where he blasted out of a greenside bunker on the course’s longest hole. “It was quite breezy. It was gusty, so it wasn’t easy to pull some of the clubs,” Garcia said. “There were some tough holes out there, but I was able to hit really good shots on those holes, and a couple up-and-downs when I needed them.” Right after Mickelson’s final putt at the 387-yard ninth, Spieth had a tap-in for his third birdie in a row, and seventh overall — and right after a 71-foot chip-in from the rough at the par-3 eighth. The 2016 winner and two-time runner-up had his best score in 33 career rounds at Colonial, one of two local events for the Dallas native, after rolling in a 12-foot birdie putt to start the day. “It’s hard to go any lower,” Spieth said. “That’s what I talked about before the tournament. If I could get a couple to go in early in the first round, and the confidence, and the work I’ve been doing on my stroke the last few days … I thought that would exude just a little bit of confidence into the rest of the round on greens where I’ve been very successful on before.” Erik Compton, the two-time heart transplant recipient who got into the field on a sponsor exemption, and Jason Kokrak had 65s. The 41-year-old Compton played bogey-free after birdies on the first two holes of his second PGA TOUR start this year. He missed the cut at the Honda Classic. Mickelson, the 2000 and 2008 Colonial champion, missed nine of 14 fairways — some with irons off the tee — in a scrambling early-starting round that followed an emotionally draining few days. After winning Sunday at Kiawah Island in South Carolina, Mickelson flew home that night to California, then allowed himself a couple of days to relish his historic accomplishment. Lefty said he never considered skipping Hogan’s Alley, a tree-lined course he considers perfectly suited for his game because he doesn’t have to keep hitting drivers. But the rough is thick after a lot of rain recently, and there is a good chance of more Friday. Mickelson, playing his last tournament before the hometown U.S. Open at Torrey Pines next month, went into the rough on his first swing of the day. While saving par at the 407-yard 10th, he quickly had the first of his five bogeys at No. 11, where he hit two shots into the rough and another into a greenside bunker. He finally made a birdie at the par-3 16th from inside of 5 feet, then immediately gave that stroke back at No. 17 with the first two shots into the rough before a 44-foot shot into a bunker. “It was almost like I was trying a little too hard, and I wasn’t just calm and let it happen, and I was a little bit antsy,” Mickelson said, then adding the term unsettled. “Like I just couldn’t quite get calmed down in that same frame of mind.” Mickelson said the course was very playable, even with the 15-20 mph winds, because of receptive greens. But he couldn’t keep the ball in the fairway. “You can’t play this course out of the rough because then you have tree trouble, which I had repeatedly, and I didn’t putt well,” he said. “But I won the PGA, so I’ll see if I can get it turned around for tomorrow and get a little better focus, a little better energy.”

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