Dustin Johnson was like a cat playing with a toy as he overwhelmed the field at the WGC–Mexico Championship, eventually winning by five stokes over Rory McIlroy and 10 shots over a trio of third-place finishers in an impressive – and complete – domination of the Club de Golf Chapultepec.
Johnson picked up more than five strokes on the field in strokes gained/off the tee. Another seven-plus shots in strokes gained/approach the green and, where he is sometimes vulnerable on the greens, he racked up another eight-and-a-half strokes in strokes gained/putting to leave the field. And when Johnson is putting well, there’s not much the field can do about it. He also ranked second in the field in scrambling.
Johnson made his third driver change in four tournaments in 2019, going back to TaylorMade’s M5, a driver with moveable weights along with the company’s Twist Face (where the face is modestly curved more open on the high toe and more closed on the low heel area to promote forgiveness) and Speed Injected technology, where the face is made springier than legal before a resin is inserted to bring it back to just below the legal limit.
On the short end of the bag, Johnson continues to use his TaylorMade Spider Tour Black mallet, despite tinkering during practice rounds the previous week at the Genesis Open with the company’s Spider X model. He also put TaylorMade’s new version of its TP5x ball in play at the recent Saudi International.
The win gives Johnson 20 US PGA Tour wins for his career (the 38th player to do so), victories in each of his 12 full seasons on tour and a cat-like grin that comes with winning in such convincing fashion.
What Dustin Johnson had in the bag at the WGC-Mexico Championship:
Ball: TaylorMade TP5x
Driver: TaylorMade M5 (Fujikura Speeder 661 Evolution 2.0 Tour Spec), 10.5 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade M5, 15 degrees
Irons (3): TaylorMade P790; (4-PW): TaylorMade P730
Wedges: TaylorMade Milled Grind (52, 60 degrees); TaylorMade Milled Grind Hi-Toe (64 degrees)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour Black
