WGC-Mexico Championship Leaderboard Preview, TV Times

The best players in the world head for Mexico this week and the WGC-Mexico Championship. Phil Mickelson is defending champion at Club de Golf Chapultepec.

WGC-Mexico Championship Leaderboard Preview, TV Times

Phil Mickelson is defending champion in the first World Golf Championship event of 2019. A strong field has assembled in Mexico City to contest the WGC-Mexico Championship.

Defending champion Phil Mickelson will be looking to continue his excellent start to 2019, having already enjoyed victory at Pebble Beach. He’s joined on the start list for this event by many of the world’s top ranked players.

Although World Number 1 Justin Rose has elected not to play, the remainder of the World’s top-10 will tee it up, together with 18-time WGC winner Tiger Woods.

Although this tournament spent 10 years in Florida as the Cadillac Championship at Doral, it began very much as an international event. The first instalment was hosted at Valderrama in 1999, when Tiger Woods was champion. The event also visited Mount Juliet in Ireland and The Grove in Hertfordshire in 2006.

Last season was the second instalment of the tournament in the guise of the WGC-Mexico Championship. In that event, Phil Mickelson ended a near five-year winless streak by coming through a playoff against Justin Thomas. It was a good week for Europeans Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Tyrrell Hatton who finished tied for third.

The Club de Golf Chapultepec is one of the most historic in Mexico. Willie Smith, 1899 U.S. Open champion was first tasked with laying out a course on land between Mexico City and Naucalpan but plans were hampered by the Mexican Revolution. Smith died in 1916 and his brother Alex took over the construction of the course. It was finished in 1928. The Mexican Open began at Chapultepec in 1944. In 1972 the course was redesigned by Percy Clifford.

At 7,500 feet above sea level, the altitude will be a factor this week – the ball will be flying some 10% further than normal.

The weather looks set fair although blustery winds could play a part over the weekend.

Venue: Club de Golf Chapultepec, Mexico City, Mexico Date: Feb 21-24 Course stats: par 71, 7,330 yards Purse: $10,250,000 Defending champion: Phil Mickelson (-16)

How to watch the WGC-Mexico Championship

TV Coverage: Thursday 21 – Sky Sports Golf from 7pm and Sky Sports Main Event from 10.30pm Friday 22 – Sky Sports Golf from 7pm Saturday 23 – Sky Sports Golf from 5pm and Sky Sports Main Event from 8pm Sunday 24 – Sky Sports Golf from 5pm and Sky Sports Main Event from 7pm

Not a Sky Sports customer and want to watch the WGC-Mexico Championship?

BUY NOW: Now TV Sky Sports Pass – £8.99 for a day, £14.99 for a week or £33.99 for a month

Players to watch:

Rory McIlroy – The Northern Irishman is close to returning to top form. He has finished in the top-five in his last three starts on the PGA Tour.

Phil Mickelson – The defending champ was a recent winner at Pebble Beach. The veteran would love to mark his 600th career PGA Tour start with another victory.

Gary Woodland – He’s been one of the PGA Tour’s most consistent players over the last nine months. In fact, he hasn’t missed a cut on the circuit since last June.

Key hole: 16th. At just 403 yards, it looks pretty innocuous on the card. But it’s all uphill and it’s narrow with bunkers and trees guarding the flanks of the hole. The green is on two levels and missing the correct level will leave a testing two putt.