Dustin Johnson Steadily Takes Control at Mexico Championship

Dustin Johnson shot his second consecutive bogey-free round to build a two-shot lead at 11-under-par 131 after two rounds of the Mexico Championship in Mexico City.

Trailing Rory McIlroy by one shot entering the second round, Johnson found himself four shots back after McIlroy birdied three of his first four holes. But Johnson, who had a putt for birdie on every hole, continued his steady play at Chapultepec Golf Club while McIlroy ran into midround trouble, finishing Friday in a tie for second at 9 under with Matt Kuchar (67).

Because McIlroy got into the clubhouse first with his 1-under 70 on Friday, he will be paired with Johnson in the final group on Saturday. Kuchar will be paired with Sergio García (66), who is tied for fourth place with Tommy Fleetwood at 7 under. Fleetwood tied for the low round of the day with his 65 despite missing a short putt on No. 17.

Ian Poulter (68) and Cameron Smith (67) are another shot off the pace. Tiger Woods was one shot off the low round of the day with his 66, which vaulted him 17 spots and into a five-tie for eighth place at 5 under.

No one had a bigger bounceback Friday than Phil Mickelson, the defending champion, who is tied for 39th. He moved up 31 spots by matching Fleetwood’s 65, and his 14-stroke improvement from the previous day was the largest single-round bounce-back in his 600 career PGA Tour events.

Johnson has not had any such turbulence through the first two days. While acknowledging Chapultepec had narrow fairways, he said the tree-lined holes kept him focused, and Johnson carded four birdies in posting a 67 on Friday.

He hit only half of the fairways in the second round, but he posted bogey-free rounds during the first two rounds of an event for the first time in his career.

“I think I have a very good game plan,” Johnson told reporters. “I don’t really play too aggressive here, but when you can, I try to be aggressive. And try to get myself some good looks at birdie, but off the tee, I can’t be too aggressive.”

Johnson has now been in the top 10 after nine of his past 10 rounds at the event, which is contested more than 7,000 feet above sea level and features many players hitting their long irons more than 300 yards.

“I just enjoy playing this kind of golf,” Johnson told the Golf Channel. “It makes you focus; you’ve got to think. You’re doing a lot of calculations with the numbers and trying to figure out how far the ball actually is going to go. I enjoy it.”

It looked early on as if McIlroy might run away and hide. He was 11 under when he took a rip at the green on the par-5 sixth hole with his second shot. But McIlroy’s ball found the water, and he wound up with a bogey.

He still held a one-shot lead when he stood over a birdie putt on the ninth hole. Having been perfect on all 24 putts inside 10 feet for the week to that point, McIlroy’s attempt lipped out. He also missed the comeback putt for bogey and suddenly found himself looking up at Johnson on the scoreboard.

McIlroy did birdie the 14th hole to get into that powerhouse final group on Saturday.

“We’ve still got 36 holes to go,” Johnson said. “I feel like I’m in a good position going into the weekend, but a two-shot lead is not very much, especially not around here.”

Woods fared much better in just his second professional round in Mexico, improving by five shots over his first-round score. That included a shot from a fairway bunker that sliced around a tree and came a foot or two from holing out.

“I realized that, ‘Jeez, I really gotta slice this thing,’ ” he told reporters. “So I opened up and gave it as much of a cut motion as I could, and it worked out.”

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