Sleepers: the Memorial Tournament

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Dustin Johnson defends the first of back-to-back World Golf Championships titles as the event, formerly based in Miami, makes its second visit to the Mexico City suburbs. Justin Rose, who chased down Johnson to win the WGC HSBC Champions last fall, ends a four-week break with an eye on becoming the third man in history to claim back-to-back WGCs. Jon Rahm, third a year ago, and reigning FedExCup champ Justin Thomas also highlight a small-but-solid WGC lineup. FIELD NOTES: The roster currently stands at 64, though that will grow with any late qualifiers. … Current FedExCup leader Patton Kizzire is assured of being added off the current points list, along with anyone who cracks the top 10 following the Honda Classic. … Adam Scott, now outside the world’s top 50 for the first time since 2001, has an outside chance of sliding back in with a good weekend at Honda. … India’s Shubhankar Sharma, twice a European Tour winner in its new season, is among eight entrants teeing it up in their WGC debuts. … Brett Rumford, the 2017 Australasian Tour money leader, makes his first WGC start since 2014. … Abraham Ancer gains a berth as the top Mexican in the world rankings. He’s in his second PGA TOUR season. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 550 points. STORYLINES: Johnson, who also prevailed three years ago in Miami, seeks a Mexican repeat and a third victory in a four-year span. He was a runaway winner at Kapalua, but found his quest for a third Pebble Beach crown derailed by Ted Potter Jr. … Tiger Woods, you’ll recall, owns a trio of three-peats at WGC stops. … A Rose triumph would allow him to join Woods and Johnson as the only men to win consecutive WGC starts. His victory in China was the first of three in the final two months of 2017, but he hasn’t teed it up since a tie for eighth at the Farmers Insurance Open. … Rahm has a pair of top-3 finishes in four WGC starts, including a loss to Johnson in last year’s WGC Dell Match Play final. … Contributing to the small roster is the absence of five names among the top 13 in the rankings, including Farmers winner Jason Day and Rory McIlroy. COURSE: Club de Golf Chapultepec, 7,330 yards, par 71. A debutant on the WGC scene last year, the club on Mexico City’s affluent outskirts celebrates its 90th anniversary in 2018. Construction was interrupted by the Mexican Revolution and led to architect Willie Smith – the 1899 U.S. Open winner – passing away in 1916 without seeing the course finished. Smith’s brother Alex took over the project and saw it to completion. The Mexican Open got its start at Chapultepec in 1944, remaining as host until 1960 when the tournament began rotating sites. A Percy Clifford redesign in 1972 made significant changes, with more upgrades were made ahead of its WGC introduction. 72-HOLE RECORD: 261, Tiger Woods (2006 at The Grove). Chapultepec record: 270, Dustin Johnson (2017). 18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Sergio Garcia and Retief Goosen (both 4th round, 2002 at Mount Juliet), Bubba Watson (2nd round, 2012 at Trump Doral), J.B. Holmes (1st round, 2015 at Trump Doral). Chapultepec record: 63, Jordan Spieth (3rd round, 2017). LAST YEAR: Johnson captured his fourth WGC title in his first start since ascending to No.1 in the rankings, holding steady down the stretch after a four-shot lead turned to a one-shot deficit. Jon Rahm used an eagle and two birdies after the turn to move in front, but Johnson pulled even with a birdie at No.15 and parred his way home for a closing 68. Rahm bogeyed twice in his last three holes, bumped out of second when Tommy Fleetwood (66) drained a 40-foot birdie at No.18. Johnson notched his 14th PGA TOUR victory and second in a row, following a Genesis Open triumph to ascend to No.1. A few weeks later, he’d make it three straight by taking the WGC Dell Match Play. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 2-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, noon-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, noon-2 p.m. (GC), 2-6 p.m. (NBC). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 11:15 a.m.-2 p.m. (featured groups), 2-7 p.m. (featured holes). RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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ERIN, Wis. – It was near the end of his round Friday, and Jason Day’s fate had been sealed. Doomed to his first missed cut at a U.S. Open, he was simply trying to stay out of the way of playing partner Rory McIlroy, who suddenly had a hot hand. Given the wayward shots coming from Day’s clubs, it was not a difficult task. “Unfortunately with where I was hitting it,� Day said, “I wasn’t in the way.� Pardon the gallows humor. After shooting a 3-under 75 to finish at 10 over for his two round at Erin Hills, it was all Day could muster. McIlroy, the reigning FedExCup champ, fared slightly better. Thanks to four birdies in his last six holes, he managed a 1-under 71. Alas, due to his struggles on Thursday when he shot 78, McIlroy finished at 5 over and suffered the same fate as Day. Both will have to watch the final two rounds of the U.S. Open on television this weekend. Seeing the world’s No. 2 (McIlroy) and No. 3 (Day) ranked players miss the cut this week certainly is shocking. In his last 17 starts in majors, McIlroy had won three times, posted 10 top-10 finishes and missed the cut just twice. Day, meanwhile, was riding a streak of 17 consecutive made cuts in majors, with one win and – again – 10 top-10 finishes. Plus, on a course that has measured more than 7,800 yards in each of the first two rounds, you would have expected both to thrive with their power games. In retrospect, perhaps the missed cuts are not a total surprise – at least from McIlroy’s standpoint. He was sidelined earlier this year with a rib injury and has made just five PGA TOUR starts in 2017. He feels healthy now, but he came in rusty – and it showed in his opening round. After hitting just five fairways and nine greens on Thursday, McIlroy’s ball-striking improved in the second round, as he hit 11 fairways and 12 greens. He was still 9 over for the tournament going into his last six holes, but he found a groove that offered at least a few good vibes heading into next week’s Travelers Championship. “Gave myself a lot more looks,� McIlroy said. “But I think at the end of the day, it’s competitive rounds and get the card in my hand. I’ve been very light on competitive rounds this year and it’s just a matter of getting into a good round of golf now. “I saw some positives there on the back nine coming in, and hopefully I can take them to the Travelers.� After Thursday’s round, McIlroy and his coach Michael Bannon discussed his swing issues. McIlroy said his transition was too quick, that he would get to the top of his swing and then essentially lunge at the ball. “I just tried to smooth out the transition today,� McIlroy said, “and it definitely worked. … I think at this point in time, I just need to play a round of golf. Even though it’s very disappointing to not be here on the weekend, I think these last two rounds will serve me well going into the summer.� As for Day, he entered this week with a stellar track record at the U.S. Open – five top-10 finishes in six career starts. Even though he hasn’t won since THE PLAYERS Championship in 2016, he had been playing better of late, finishing second late last month at the AT&T Byron Nelson. He was certainly confident in his prep work for Erin Hills; in fact, he called it the best preparation he’s ever had going into a major. And having already won the most recent major in Wisconsin – the 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits – he felt an unusual sense of calmness. But two triple bogeys on Thursday when he found trouble in the fescue were simply too costly to overcome, especially on a day when a record 44 players broke par. He ended up hitting balls after his afternoon finish, but he thinks now the late-night range session might have been a mistake, as it left him sluggish going into Friday’s early-morning tee time. Pressing to go low to make the cut, he didn’t have enough reserves to draw upon to ever make a move Friday. Plus, his usually stellar short game deserted him, as he failed to get up-and-down several times in his two rounds. “When you see someone that shoots 7-under [which Rickie Fowler did Thursday] and the guys in the morning tear up the golf course, I’ve got to try to be a little bit aggressive,� Day said. “But then again, you sit there and it’s the U.S. Open. Things can turn pretty bad – which they did for me.� Ironically, while others were glad to see the unusually wide and generous fairways at Erin Hills, Day thought it might have been a hindrance for him. He said the width of the fairways negatively affected his focus off the tee. “I think when you’re trying to aim at a target usually at a normal golf course, with normal-width fairways, there’s some pressure into hitting the fairway because it is a lot narrower than we have out here,� Day said. “I think with everything so large, your target is larger and your misses get even more extreme. “Being out of position off the tee does not help. The execution was not there.� On the flip side, though, Day did enjoy one aspect of his two rounds at Erin Hills. “I enjoyed the walk,� he said. “The walk was great.� Pardon the gallows humor. Again.

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