Players Facing Unique Challenges at WGC-Mexico Championship

The World Golf Championship will be holding its first event of 2017 this coming weekend and will showcase the best golfers in the game.  In this WGC kick-off event, however, golfers will face some challenges that they do not have to deal with every day.

The first World Golf Championship event will be held in Mexico this week, being played at the Club de Golf Chapultepec.  For many players, this will be the first time that they will play on this course, making the unfamiliarity one of the biggest challenges facing the field this weekend.

Built in 1928 and the original home of the PGA’s Mexican Open, the club features a length of 7,267-yards and 72 as par for its 18 holes.  This makes Club de Golf Chapultepec not terribly long compared to other PGA TOUR courses but this could prove to be a problem for some long hitters.

2,119 miles later. ✈️🇲🇽

The golfers have arrived in Mexico City for the @WGCMexico via a TOUR-only charter. pic.twitter.com/yrOmYftSSZ

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 28, 2017

The most unique challenge that the top 50 golfers in the game will have to deal with is the extreme altitude.  Club de Golf Chapultepec sits at 7,780 feet above sea level, 50% higher than the altitude of Denver.  This will cause a variety of problems, including shortness of breath and the fact that the ball will fly further under these conditions.

Justin Leonard explained the difficulties that golfers will face in this tournament during a conference call, saying “I live at 8,000 feet, and I know that if I played here every day and I didn’t go to sea level, my equipment would look completely different.”  He also believes players will be able to adjust, continuing to say, “I think you will see guys making adjustments at altitude, especially with driver, possibly with the golf ball.”

This will be the first time that a PGA event has been played at this altitude since the 2014 BMW Championship so it will be interesting to see who will be able to adjust and conquer these new challenges this weekend.

Cover Photo via Twitter