The first of the four World Golf Championships arrives this week in Mexico City, as do 49 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Rankings. We run you through everything you need to know about the WGC-Mexico Championship…
REWIND
Adam Scott mounted a brilliant comeback to hold off the challenge of Bubba Watson to win his second career WGC title, 12 months ago.
Beginning the day three shots behind overnight leader Rory McIlroy, the Australian trailed by six in the early stages after two double-bogeys in his first five holes. However, his fortune was set to change after some stunning approach play produced six birdies in the next nine holes to move to the top of the leader board, holding his nerve down the stretch to finish at 12 under and beat Watson by one shot.
Danny Willett finished at ten under after an excellent closing 69 alongside four-time Major Champion McIlroy after his closing round of 74, as the pair shared third place.
THE FIELD
As the European Tour makes history this week with the first official European Tour event played in Mexico, it also heralds the return of Rory McIlroy. The World Number Three has not played competitively since the BMW SA Open hosted by City of Ekurhuleni in January, where he finished second losing out in a play-off to Graeme Storm, after suffering from a stress fracture in his rib.
The Northern Irishman is one of 16 Major Championship winners in the star-studded field, including defending champion Scott, who is bidding to become the first Australian to make a successful defence of a European Tour title since Greg Norman (1981-82 Dunlop Masters). Should he do so, Scott would be only the second player in WGC history to achieve this feat, following Tiger Woods.
Newly crowned World Number One Dustin Johnson - a winner of the tournament in 2015 - will tee off for the first time as the world’s best player. Joining him will be 37 European Tour Members, with Sam Brazel and Brandon Stone making their WGC debuts.
THE COURSE
Located less than 10 miles from downtown Mexico City, Chapultepec Golf Club opened in 1921 and hosted the Mexican Open 14 times between 1944-1960.
Originally designed by Willie Smith, the Scot ran into problems during the Mexican Revolution and died in 1916 with the project then falling to his brother Alex to complete in 1921.
Completely renovated in 1972 by Percy Clifford, the par 71, 7,330-yard course bears little resemblance to the original layout, and has also undergone further enhancements in preparation for the WGC event.
Chapultepec Golf Club has previously staged the Mexican Open 18 times, most recently in 2014 when it was won by Oscar David Álvarez. Major Champions, Roberto de Vicenzo (1951, 53, 55), Bob Rosburg (1957) and Ben Crenshaw (1981) have all won the Mexican Open at this venue.
DID YOU KNOW: WGC-MEXICO CHAMPIONSHIP
• Patrick Reed made World Golf Championship history in 2014 when he became the youngest player to win a WGC event, aged 23 years and 216 days. This broke the previous record of Tiger Woods, who was 23 years and 242 days at the 1999 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
• Should Adam Scott win again he would join Geoff Ogilvy on three wins and move into joint second place in the list of most prolific WGC winners, behind Tiger Woods, who has 18.
• Should Hideki Matsuyama win the WGC-Mexico Championship, he would join Tiger Woods as the only other player to win consecutive WGC titles, following his win in the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions.
• The 2007 WGC-CA Championship saw Tiger Woods create a record by becoming the first player to win two different European Tour events for three consecutive years. The first tournament he won three years in succession was the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational between 1999-01.
• Mexico will be the 43rd different country that the European Tour has played an official event in.
• The 2017 season will be the 19th year since the first WGC event was played. It was the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, played at the La Costa Resort and Spa in 1999 and won by Jeff Maggert.
• The 2016 champion, Adam Scott, will not only try to defend his title but he will also be celebrating his 50th WGC appearance. He becomes the third player to reach this milestone, following Lee Westwood (55) and Sergio Garcia (50).
• Of the 37 European Tour Members competing there will be six playing in the WGC-Mexico Championship for the first time. They are: Sam Brazel, Tyrrell Hatton, Thomas Pieters, Brandon Stone, Jeunghun Wang and Fabrizio Zanotti. Of those six, two will be making their debuts in a WGC event. They are: Brazel and Stone.
