MEXICO CITY – Dustin Johnson spent a good part of this week at the WGC-Mexico Championship, like most of the players in this week’s field, trying to get a handle on how far his golf ball was flying through the thin air.
For the most part, that work paid off on Thursday on his way to a 1-under 70. If anything, it was Johnson’s putting that held him back on Day 1, but there was a moment that caught him off guard.
From the first tee (his 10th hole of the day), Johnson hit 3-wood down the hill and over the green some 332 yards and out of bounds. He followed that with a 2-iron that ended up pin high in a bunker left of the green.
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“It was supposed to be a little into the wind but I kind of pulled it. But I never thought I needed to tell it to get down but that’s just how it goes,” said Johnson, who made a double bogey-6 on the hole.
Overall Johnson was pleased with how he calculated the distance differences at 7,500 feet, which for most players is about a 15 percent increase.
“I feel like I got a pretty good bead on it, calculating the yardage. I hit a lot of really good iron shots,” he said. “I’m happy with the way I hit it and the way I judged the distance. I thought I controlled the ball very well, just need to make a few putts tomorrow.”
