Adam Scott has the unusual honour this week of defending a title not only on a different course, but in a different country to the one he won in.
Scott won the first World Golf Championships event of last season in Florida, but the tournament has since headed south and the WGC–Mexico Championship takes place at Chapultepec Golf Club this week.
While the Australian may have yielded some of the advantages usually associated with being the defending champion, Scott is still optimistic he can put in a strong showing.
“It was fun to play the course for the first time this morning,” he said. “I was fearful that the altitude would be the tricky part here this week, but I think it's going to be the greens in the end.
“One look or two looks at the course I don't think is going to make a difference. It's going to be tricky. I think we're going to be referring to our notes a lot when hitting into these greens, some blind and a lot of movement.
“So the guys who get most familiar, most comfortable with that for the week, I think will have a chance of having a little advantage.”
While the former Masters winner expects the greens to provide a stern test, Scott acknowledged that the course is also a challenge from tee to green.
“It's a very pretty golf course to play,” he added. “It's short but it has difficult greens and that's the sign of traditional, old style golf courses.
“That's the defence of this golf course is the greens. It's very important to hit it in the fairway and then hit it on the greens. If your ball striking's good this week, it just takes a little bit of pressure off you because although putts are tough, I would rather be putting than chipping.
“The ball goes really far but it's been fun trying to figure it all out. - Dustin Johnson
“It's going to be about precision this week. Although it's short, the penalty for missing a driver is quite severe. Trees, unable to hit it on the green and you're going to have to control wedge shots. It's going to be very difficult with the altitude difference.
“It's tough to just zone in in a couple of days with trying to hit a three quarter pitching wedge so it doesn't have spin or something like that. So there are lots of challenges this week.”
World Number One Dustin Johnson believes the altitude will restrict how often he needs to use his driver this week.
“It's been great so far,” he said. “Hospitality's been amazing; golf course is good. It's a lot different playing at 7,500 feet.
“The ball goes really far but it's been fun trying to figure it all out. I played the back nine, I hit two iron or less on every hole and hit driver on one par, a lot of irons off the tees just to keep it in play. I don't need to hit it around here even to get to the par fives - I can still get home hitting an iron off the tee.”
