DJ, Tiger, Rory, Kuchar and why there’s no way it’ll be a boring weekend in Mexico

Phil Mickelson voiced his displeasure about the course setup at the Ryder Cup, especially the rough, which he called “almost unplayable” and “a waste of my time.”

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THE OVERVIEW Can anyone beat Dustin Johnson or Hideki Matsuyama this week? Of course they can… but the pair have dominated the World Golf Championship scene of late and given both have tasted victory at Sheshan Golf Club in the past it is reasonable to suggest they can continue their incredible run in China. The last time a man not named Johnson or Matsuyama won a WGC trophy was the 2016 World Golf Championships – Dell Match Play where Jason Day was victorious. Since then the others have shared five straight, including Matsuyama’s breakthrough at the World Golf Championships – HSBC Champions last season where he dominated the field on the way to a seven-shot win. It was a period of sparkling golf to end 2016 for the Japanese star in which his worldwide results read 5-1-2-1-1-1-2 and he entrenched himself as a top-10 player in the world. He then added further victories in 2017 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the World Golf Championships – Bridgestone Invitational while also heavily contending at the U.S. Open (T2) and PGA Championship (T5). But the 25-year-old’s energy waned during the FedExCup Playoffs and while he started as the top seed he ended the season eighth on the points list. “To stay on top, to continue on top, I’m still learning how to do that, and that’s one of my goals, one of the things that I’m working on now is to be able to stay on top of my game,â€� Matsuyama said from China. A T5 finish at the recent CIMB Classic in Malaysia was a nice return to form for the five-time TOUR winner who became the first Asian to win a WGC event last year. “It is different, coming back as defending. I don’t want to put a lot of pressure or expectations on myself,â€� he said. “Just let the tournament come to me like it did last year. All I can do is just try to play my best and hopefully that will work out well.â€� Johnson is making his first appearance of the season and the world No. 1 is hoping to get something going early. His win here in 2013 has him confident any rust he’s accumulated in his short off-season can be offset. “I’m always excited to come here. I’ve had a lot of success in this tournament. It’s something I look forward to,â€� Johnson says. “The game, it’s getting there. I had three weeks off, so a little rusty. But hopefully I knocked all the rust off today. I hit a couple good shots.â€� Johnson, as he often does, spent some down time fishing but he also continued to work out away from the golf course. He believes his routine is a big part of why his only injuries have come in freak events like lifting jet skis or falling down stairs. “Knock-on-wood… I think obviously training is a big part of it. I don’t overdo it, either, as far as practicing or swinging. I’m not like Vijay hitting a thousand balls a day or practicing eight hours a day or anything like that,â€� he adds. “I think I’m really good at listening to my body, and when it tells me I need to stop, I stop.â€� The body or brain or any part of Johnson isn’t telling him to stop right now… it’s telling him to continue WGC domination. Of course lining up behind the pair are 76 more players who have designs on nailing down a huge win early in the season. Other world top-10 players like Jon Rahm, Day and Henrik Stenson are joined by the likes of Xander Schauffele, Marc Leishman, Justin Rose, Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar and Brooks Koepka.  THREE PLAYERS TO PONDER Phil Mickelson – The veteran continues to threaten to break his long victory drought that now stretches back over four years. Won twice here before event took official WGC status. Jon Rahm – Rocketed up the world rankings last year and contended heavily in his first two WGC’s with a runner up and T3 finish.   Marc Leishman – Two-time winner last season coming off a playoff loss in Korea. Will no doubt be hungry to go one better. THE FLYOVER The par-5 18th at 538 yards sets up for plenty of drama should we get a close finish. It was just a few years ago Bubba Watson holed out for eagle from the greenside bunker on the way to his victory. With water down the right side and the bunkers guarding the left it takes a precision shot at a pressure moment to come out on top.  WEATHER CHECK The outlook calls for clear sunny skies throughout the tournament with temperatures in the early and mid 60s. The humidity is hovering around 60percent for the week and we have just a 10percent chance of rain, allowing for potentially firm and fast conditions. Winds should be mild over the opening two rounds before it kicks up to somewhere between 13-17 miles per hour on the weekend. For the latest weather news from Shanghai, China, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK I’m really honored to be here participating at the WGC-HSBC Champions this week representing China which is a great honor for me and also Chinese players. It’s very exciting for us to be competing this week as PGA TOUR Members now in what will be our first full season in 2017 to 2018. ODDS AND ENDS 1. Home-field Advantage: There are seven Chinese players in the field, including Zecheng Dou and Xinjun Zhang, who become the first Chinese players to play in the event as official PGA TOUR members having graduated from the Web.com Tour. Yanwei Liu, Yi Cao, Wenchong Liang, Ashun Wu and Haotong Li are also teeing it up. News also broke that PGA TOUR – China will return in 2018 giving more pathways to the PGA TOUR. 2. Win and In: Seven of the top 10 from last season’s FedExCup is in the field with the knowledge that all but one of the winners of the last 16 World Golf Championships events have qualified for the TOUR Championship with the lone exception being Shane Lowry, who won the 2015 Bridgestone Invitational as a non-member. 3. Rahm Ready: Jon Rahm is – as always – in a winning mood. Making his debut in the event Rahm has shown he doesn’t need history at a course to be successful. He was T3 on debut at the WGC – Mexico Championship. Runner up at the WGC – Dell Match Play. He cannot be counted out. “I focus on winning. I guess I’m just hard-wired: When I like doing something, I like doing it the best I can. I don’t think in failure. I try to look towards the success, and that’s where I think it comes from, the competitiveness,â€� he said. “I love the feeling of competition, and I love the little butterflies when you compete and you’re in the moment to win, and you have a chance.â€�

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Talk about beginner’s luck. The first time Graham DeLaet ever went fishing in Alaska, he caught a 55-pound king salmon. How do you put that in perspective? Well, consider this. A PGA TOUR pro’s fully-loaded golf bag weighs roughly 40 pounds — and there wasn’t a caddy in sight on the river that day. As big as DeLaet’s salmon was, though, it wasn’t near the record. According to the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame, that chinook weighed in at 97 pounds, four ounces. DeLaet was 3 years old when the late Les Anderson caught the fish on the Kenai River on May 17, 1985. Fast forward about two decades or so. Delaet, who is an avid outdoorsman, had gone to Alaska after the RBC Canadian Open several years ago for some much-needed rest and relaxation. He was using fish eggs for bait and hooked the salmon about 4 or 5 feet directly below the boat. The water was so murky, though, that DeLaet couldn’t see how big the fish was initially. “As soon as I hooked into him, they have a counter on the reel, he was 90 feet out before I even had the chance to think about what was happening,â€� the Canadian said. The battle with the stubborn fish was a challenge. And DeLaet said it felt like he fought to the salmon for a lot longer than the 15 or 20 minutes it probably took. “I almost gave the rod to my buddy,â€� DeLaet recalled. “He was like, man, you’ve got to pull this thing in. “When you are fishing the rivers there and they get into the rapids, it can get away from you so fast. It was kind of fight, fight, fight, fight, get to the boat, gone again, fight, fight, fight. It was fun.â€� DeLaet didn’t get to bring any salmon steaks home with him to Boise, Idaho, though. There were no fleshy pink filets to smoke, either. “It wasn’t the season for chinook, the kings, so I had to release him,â€� he said. Don’t worry. DeLaet says there is photographic evidence, so everyone knows this isn’t a fish story. DeLaet has been back to Alaska several times to see if he could catch another whopper like that one. He’s also fished for salmon in northern Washington with his wife, Ruby, and her family. The Boise State product initially started fishing to help him wind down from the rigors of playing golf for a living. He’s also a hunter and has sought big game in places as far away as Zimbabwe. “But I didn’t really start enjoying (fishing) until probably like 2010, something like that,â€� he said. “Kind of like my rookie year out here, I almost needed something to do to get away from golf, and that was it.â€� DeLaet’s twins, Lyla and Roscoe, now provide that release. When the two, who were born in 2015, get a little older, he hopes they’ll learn to enjoy fishing, too. “It would be a fun thing to share,â€� DeLaet said. That salmon remains the largest freshwater fish DeLaet has ever caught “by a mile,â€� he says. He did land a 40-inch barracuda earlier this year when he was fishing in the Atlantic Ocean near Fort Lauderdale, though. And this time he didn’t have to settle for a photograph. “I got that one mounted, so it’s coming,â€� DeLaet said. “It’s being delivered to Idaho to put up in my garage. It was a pretty nice barracuda.â€� Just in the garage? “Yeah. My wife won’t let me put it in the house, I’m sure,â€� DeLaet said. “Maybe if I get a cabin someday, I can put it in there.â€�

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