It was Dustin Johnson’s week at the PGA Tour’s WGC-Mexico Championship, but on the final day Ryan Fox’s hectic travel schedule finally caught up with him with massive jet lag.
While Johnson ran away with his sixth World Golf Championship title, Fox finally hit the wall after being a late callup for the event and making a frantic dash from New Zealand to take his place in the field.
Ryan hung in there through the first two rounds with back-to-back rounds of 1-over 72. However he had a 4-over 75 in the third round to plummet down the field and tailed out badly on Monday with a 5-over 76 to close on.
Fox hit just 10 of 18 greens in regulation during his final round to finish on 11 over in a tie for 67th. Just four players in the field were below him.
The Kiwi had five bogeys, a double-bogey 7 on the par-5 15th after an errant drive and two birdies in his closing round.
Johnson had struggled early, caught a good break from behind a tree and then breezed to the title by closing with a 5-under 66 for a 5-shot victory over Rory McIlroy in the championship.
It was the American’s 20th PGA Tour victory.
He started the final round with a 4-shot lead. But the lead was cut in half after three holes, and Johnson escaped potential trouble on the 5th when he was given free relief behind a tree because the heel of his shoe was on the cart path.
McIlroy asked for similar relief on the next hole and was denied when it was deemed he could not attempt the shot. He wound up hitting into the water and made bogey. Johnson birdied and was on his way.
McIlroy closed with a 67. Johnson finished 10 strokes clear of third-placed Englishmen Paul Casey (65) and Ian Poulter (68), and Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat (68).
