2020 WGC-Mexico Championship

The 2020 WGC-Mexico Championship was a golf tournament played February 20–23 at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Naucalpan, Mexico, just west of Mexico City. It was the 21st time the WGC Championship is played, and the first of the World Golf Championships events to be staged in 2020. The approximate elevation of the course's clubhouse is 2,400 meters (7,870 ft) above sea level.

2020 WGC-Mexico Championship
Tournament information
DatesFebruary 20–23, 2020
LocationNaucalpan, Mexico
19°25′52″N 99°14′38″W / 19.431°N 99.244°W / 19.431; -99.244
Course(s)Club de Golf Chapultepec
Tour(s)PGA Tour
European Tour
Statistics
Par71
Length7,355 yards (6,725 m)
Field72 players
CutNone
Prize fund$10,500,000
Winner's share$1,820,000
Champion
United States Patrick Reed
266 (−18)
Location map
Naucalpan is located in Mexico
Naucalpan
Naucalpan
Location in Mexico
Naucalpan is located in State of Mexico
Naucalpan
Naucalpan
Location in State of Mexico
← 2019
2021 →

Patrick Reed won his second WGC Championship (first in Mexico), by a single stroke ahead of Bryson DeChambeau. DeChambeau was leading heading into the final stages, but scored an aggregate one-over-par on the final 4 holes, whereas Reed birdied the 15th, 16th, and 17th. During the final round five players had a share of the lead, with the other main challengers being Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Erik van Rooyen.[1][2]

This was the final time this event was held in Mexico; the following year's edition was scheduled to return, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was moved to Florida in January 2021 (and played in late February).[3]

Course layout

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Club de Golf Chapultepec

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Yards 316 387 186 506 445 625 235 525 382 3,607 450 632 406 225 497 575 403 172 388 3,738 7,355
Meters 289 354 170 463 407 572 215 480 349 3,299 411 578 371 206 441 526 369 157 355 3,405 6,726
Par 4 4 3 4 4 5 3 4 4 35 4 5 4 3 4 5 4 3 4 36 71

Source:[4]

Field

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The field consisted of players from the top of the Official World Golf Ranking and the money lists/Orders of Merit from the six main professional golf tours.[5] Each player is classified according to the first category in which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses.

1. The top 50 players from the Official World Golf Ranking, as of February 10, 2020

An Byeong-hun (2), Abraham Ancer (2,3), Rafa Cabrera-Bello (2), Paul Casey (2,3), Bryson DeChambeau (2,3), Matt Fitzpatrick (2,5,6), Tommy Fleetwood (2,3,5,6), Sergio García (2), Tyrrell Hatton (2,5), Billy Horschel (2), Im Sung-jae (2,3,4), Shugo Imahira (2,7), Jazz Janewattananond (2,10), Dustin Johnson (2,3), Kevin Kisner (2,3), Matt Kuchar (2,3), Marc Leishman (2,3,4), Shane Lowry (2,5), Hideki Matsuyama (2,3,4), Graeme McDowell (2,6), Rory McIlroy (2,3,4,5), Francesco Molinari (2), Kevin Na (2), Louis Oosthuizen (2,3,5,6), Victor Perez (2,5,6), Jon Rahm (2,3,5), Chez Reavie (2,3), Patrick Reed (2,3), Xander Schauffele (2,3), Adam Scott (2,3), Webb Simpson (2,3,4), Cameron Smith (2,4), Brandt Snedeker (2,3), Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas (2,3,4), Erik van Rooyen (5), Matt Wallace (2,5), Bubba Watson (2), Lee Westwood (2,6), Bernd Wiesberger (2,5), Danny Willett (2,5,6), Gary Woodland (2,3)

2. The top 50 players from the Official World Golf Ranking, as of February 17, 2020

Christiaan Bezuidenhout (5,6), Collin Morikawa

3. The top 30 players from the final 2019 FedExCup Points List

Corey Conners, Lucas Glover, Charles Howell III, Jason Kokrak

4. The top 10 players from the 2020 FedExCup Points List, as of February 17, 2020

Lanto Griffin, Sebastián Muñoz, Brendon Todd

5. The top 20 players from the final 2019 European Tour Race to Dubai

Jorge Campillo, Benjamin Hébert, Marcus Kinhult, Kurt Kitayama, Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Robert MacIntyre, Matthias Schwab

6. The top 10 players from the 2020 European Tour Race to Dubai, as of February 10, 2020

Branden Grace, Lucas Herbert, Pablo Larrazábal

7. The top 2 players, not otherwise exempt, from the final 2019 Japan Golf Tour Order of Merit

Ryo Ishikawa, Shaun Norris

8. The top 2 players, not otherwise exempt, from the final 2019 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit

Ryan Fox, Zach Murray

9. The top 2 players, not otherwise exempt, from the final 2018–19 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit

Justin Harding, Zander Lombard

10. The top 2 players, not otherwise exempt, from the final 2019 Asian Tour Order of Merit

Scott Hend, Lee Tae-hee

11. The highest-ranked player from Mexico, not otherwise eligible, within the top 300 of the Official World Golf Ranking as of February 10, 2020

Carlos Ortiz

12. Alternates to fill field to 72 (if necessary) from the Official World Golf Ranking as of February 17, 2020
  1. Scottie Scheffler (51)
  2. Kang Sung-hoon (54)

Round summaries

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First round

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Thursday, February 20, 2020

For the second year running, world number one Rory McIlroy led the tournament after the first round, after shooting a 6-under-par 65 to take a two-shot lead over Justin Thomas and Bubba Watson. McIlroy had an eagle on the 11th hole (his second hole) and had five birdies in his round.[6] No players completed a bogey-free round, with the field shooting a combined 100-over par and a scoring average of 72.389, the highest of any WCG round at Chapultepec.[7]

Place Player Score To par
1   Rory McIlroy 65 −6
T2   Justin Thomas 67 −4
  Bubba Watson
T4   Corey Conners 68 −3
  Bryson DeChambeau
  Billy Horschel
  Louis Oosthuizen
T8   Paul Casey 69 −2
  Tyrrell Hatton
  Im Sung-jae
  Hideki Matsuyama
  Patrick Reed
  Lee Westwood

Second round

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Friday, February 21, 2020

The average score was more than 2 stokes lower on day two, than on day one. An 8-under 63 gave Bryson DeChambeau solo lead after making 31 of 32 putts inside 15 feet through two rounds, which also meant he had a career high of total putting distance of 265' 10". On his 30th birthday, Erik van Rooyen was the only player to shoot a bogey-free round, and matched Justin Thomas' course record with a 9-under 62. Rory McIlroy struggled compared to his first round, but three late birdies meant he stayed within 3 strokes of the lead going into day three.[8]

Place Player Score To par
1   Bryson DeChambeau 68-63=131 −11
T2   Patrick Reed 69-63=132 −10
  Erik van Rooyen 70-62=132
T4   Hideki Matsuyama 69-64=133 −9
  Justin Thomas 67-66=133
6   Rory McIlroy 65-69=134 −8
T7   Paul Casey 69-68=137 −5
  Tyrrell Hatton 69-68=137
  Sebastián Muñoz 71-66=137
10   Corey Conners 68-70=138 −4

Third round

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Saturday, February 22, 2020

Having already won twice in the current PGA Tour season, Justin Thomas shot a 6-under 65 to lead by one stroke after 54-holes, a feat he also achieved at the 2017 WGC-Mexico Championship. Overnight leader Bryson DeChambeau could only hit a level par 71, despite being 3-under after the first two holes, and finished 4 strokes behind Thomas. Jon Rahm set a new tournament and course record after scoring a 10-under 61 which included nine birdies and a hole-in-one on the 17th to finish the day level with DeChambeau.[9]

Place Player Score To par
1   Justin Thomas 67-66-65=198 −15
T2   Patrick Reed 69-63-67=199 −14
  Erik van Rooyen 70-62-67=199
T4   Bryson DeChambeau 68-63-71=202 −11
  Rory McIlroy 65-69-68=202
  Jon Rahm 72-69-61=202
T7   Paul Casey 69-68-66=203 −10
  Tyrrell Hatton 69-68-66=203
T9   Hideki Matsuyama 69-64-71=204 −9
  Kevin Na 71-68-65=204
  Gary Woodland 70-69-65=204

Final round

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Sunday, February 23, 2020

Final leaderboard

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Champion
(c) = past champion
Place Player Score To par Money ($)
1   Patrick Reed (c) 69-63-67-67=266 −18 1,820,000
2   Bryson DeChambeau 68-63-71-65=267 −17 1,150,000
T3   Jon Rahm 72-69-61-67=269 −15 600,000
  Erik van Rooyen 70-62-67-70=269
5   Rory McIlroy 65-69-68-68=270 −14 430,000
T6   Tyrrell Hatton 69-68-66-68=271 −13 320,667
  Hideki Matsuyama 69-64-71-67=271
  Justin Thomas 67-66-65-73=271
T9   Billy Horschel 68-71-68-65=272 −12 237,500
  Kevin Na 71-68-65-68=272

Source:[10]

Scorecard

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Final round

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Par 4 4 3 4 4 5 3 4 4 4 5 4 3 4 5 4 3 4
  Reed −15 −15 −15 −15 −15 −15 −15 −15 −15 −15 −15 −16 −16 −16 −17 −18 −19 −18
  DeChambeau −11 −11 −12 −12 −12 −13 −14 −13 −14 −15 −16 −17 −17 −18 −18 −18 −17 −17
  Rahm −12 −13 −14 −14 −15 −15 −15 −15 −15 −15 −14 −14 −15 −14 −15 −15 −15 −15
  van Rooyen −15 −16 −15 −15 −15 −15 −15 −15 −15 −13 −14 −13 −13 −13 −14 −15 −15 −15
  McIlroy −12 −12 −12 −13 −13 −14 −14 −14 −14 −14 −14 −13 −13 −13 −13 −14 −14 −14
  Hatton −11 −11 −11 −11 −11 −11 −10 −11 −12 −12 −12 −12 −12 −13 −14 −14 −13 −13
  Matsuyama −9 −9 −8 −9 −9 −9 −9 −9 −9 −9 −10 −11 −11 −12 −11 −12 −13 −13
  Thomas −16 −16 −15 −15 −16 −16 −15 −14 −14 −12 −13 −13 −12 −12 −12 −13 −13 −13

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie Bogey Double bogey

Source:[11]

References

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  1. ^ "Fourth-Round Notes – Sunday, February 23, 2020" (PDF). PGA Tour. February 23, 2020.
  2. ^ "Patrick Reed Shows His Moxie and Wins Mexico Championship". Sports Illustrated. February 23, 2020.
  3. ^ "2021 WGC-Mexico Championship to be played at The Concession Golf Club in Florida". European Tour. January 17, 2021.
  4. ^ "WGC-Mexico Championship: Card of the course". European Tour. February 17, 2020. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
  5. ^ "2019 Qualifiers for majors, The Players, WGCs". PGA Tour. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
  6. ^ "Rory McIlroy roars out to two-shot lead at Mexico Championship". ESPN. Associated Press. February 21, 2020.
  7. ^ "First-Round Notes – Thursday, February 20, 2020" (PDF). PGA Tour. February 21, 2020.
  8. ^ "Second-Round Notes – Friday, February 21, 2020" (PDF). PGA Tour. February 22, 2020.
  9. ^ "Third-Round Notes – Saturday, February 22, 2020" (PDF). PGA Tour. February 22, 2020.
  10. ^ "WGC-Mexico Championship". ESPN. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  11. ^ "World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship". PGA Tour. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
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