Dustin Johnson made it through another round at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship without a bogey as he opened a two-shot lead heading into the weekend.
DJ’s 4-under 67 saw him move past Rory McIlroy, with the Northern Irishman now second alongside Matt Kuchar.
Johnson was so efficient on Friday that he putted for birdie on every hole, one of them from just on the fringe.
‘Just hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens,’ Johnson said, who won here two years ago when still No 1 in the world and in the form of his life.
He feels he is heading in that direction again, and the course suits him – not for the length or how far he hits it at altitude, but for the thinking required.
‘It makes you focus. You’ve got to think,’ he said. ‘And you’re doing a lot of calculations with the numbers and trying to figure out how far the ball is going to actually go. So I enjoy it. It’s pretty narrow, but it’s tree-lined, so I do like that.’
McIlroy (70) appeared to be the one to chase when he started with two straight birdies. He lost one shot when he went for the green on the par-5 sixth and his shot caromed off the hill and into the water. The real trouble came at No 9 when he had a 15-foot birdie putt from the fringe. He ran it by the hole, caught the lip on his par putt and saw it roll just under 5 feet away, and he missed again. Four putts from 15 feet led to double bogey, and McIlroy’s momentum was gone.
His attitude didn’t change, though. He was two off the lead and liked where he was.
‘It’s funny, I had breakfast with a few of the boys who played later yesterday and they said it was going to be hard to hole putts in the afternoon, and they were right,’ McIlroy said. ‘I had a couple go the opposite way on me. I missed a couple short ones. But overall, I stayed patient. After I made the double on 9, I sort of righted the ship and made a lot of pars and made one birdie.
‘It could have been worse. It could have been better,’ he said. ‘But still in a good position going into the weekend.’
Richard Sterne remains on track for a good finish after a second round 68 has left him sharing eighth. He is one better than Louis Oosthuizen, who was six better in his second loop around the Club de Golf Chapultepec.
Fortunately for Oosthuizen he was able to correct his tee shot woes as he missed just four greens in regulation despite hitting just 50% of the fairways on Friday.
The top-ranked South African had just a single birdie on the back nine with all the action coming early. A 15-footer on the first was followed by a booming drive on the second, which left him with a foot for birdie. He had just another one footer on the fourth before he rolled in a 27-foot putt on the par-3 7th.
His lone blemish came at the next as he three-putted for bogey before he rolled in a 11-foot putt to immediately regain the shot dropped on the previous hole.
Oosthuizen’s inward run was muted, but he did convert his third one-foot birdie putt on the 12th to get to five-under for the round..
Selected leaderboard:
131 – Dustin Johnson 64-67
133 – Rory McIlroy (NIR) 63-70, Matt Kuchar 66-67
135 – Sergio Garcia (ESP) 69-66, Tommy Fleetwood (ENG) 70-65
136 – Cameron Smith (AUS) 69-67, Ian Poulter (ENG) 68-68
137 – Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA) 68-69, Richard Sterne (RSA) 69-68, Charles Howell 69-68, Tiger Woods 71-66, Tyrrell Hatton (ENG) 67-70
138 – Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 72-66, Francesco Molinari (ITA) 71-67, Joost Luiten (NED) 71-67
139 – Jake McLeod (AUS) 70-69, Patrick Cantlay 72-67, David Lipsky 68-71, Justin Thomas 66-73
140 – Kevin Kisner 73-67, Patrick Reed 72-68, Erik van Rooyen (RSA) 72-68, Shugo Imahira (JPN) 73-67, Danny Willett (ENG) 71-69
