The PGA Tour heads to Detroit this week for the Rocket Mortgage Classic, a tournament which is beginning to become more and more popular even though it isn’t one of those with elevated status and despite the countdown to the last match of the season being on.
Rickie Fowler resurrected his career by winning this tournament a year ago and he will be looking to make a successful defence and set himself up for the remainder of the campaign. A useful field will be out to stop him.
Recent Winners
2023 – Rickie Fowler
2022 – Tony Finau
2021 – Cameron Davis
2020 – Bryson DeChambeau
2019 – Nate Lashley
The Course
We are back at the Detroit Golf Club this week where the same composite course as last year is being used. The course being used is a par 72 which measures 7,370 yards which still isn’t overly long by modern standards. It is designed by Donald Ross and most of his courses rely on accuracy into tight greens and good putting techniques on greens which have plenty of slopes on them. There isn’t usually an emphasis off the tee although Tony Finau, Cameron Davis and Bryson DeChambeau winning the last three years highlights the advantage length has around here.
All things being equal though, this is going to turn into a shootout so basically we are looking for players to give themselves a lot of chances on the greens and those who are putting well enough to convert them. It is rare that we get through this tournament without some rain coming along to join the party and it is due to arrive on Saturday so the business end of the event could be played on a soft course so expect more low scoring this week.
The Field
After three weeks where we have had a tournament hosted by a legend, a major and another Signature event, it is understandable that there is a significant drop off in the level of field this week, especially as this is just a routine competition in terms of status. It still has to be won though and there is a real international challenge looking to win it, heading up by the man beaten in a playoff last week in the Korean ace Tom Kim.
Min Woo Lee and Taylor Pendrith are a couple of other international players who are leading the challenge this week while there is a decent European contingent on show as well, led by the Houston winner Stephan Jaeger with Alex Noren, Aaron Rai and Canadian Open winner Robert MacIntyre. If there is a home winner it will be the likes of the defending champion Rickie Fowler, Cameron Young or Will Zalatoris who are among the leading lights to get it.
Market Leaders
Tom Kim found only the world number one Scottie Scheffler too good for him last week but this will be his ninth tournament in succession now and I can’t be getting involved in him as a 12/1 favourite as a result of that. I was on last week and liked my chances for much of the week but I wonder if the reason why he couldn’t quite get it going on the Sunday. If it was then I’m not sure another week of action is going to help with that. He isn’t for me here.
Cameron Young is still a maiden on the PGA Tour but he arrives here off the back of shooting 59 in the third round of the Travelers a week ago. Unlike some who shoot a round like that, he actually hung around on Sunday which bodes well for him here but even though this isn’t the strongest field that we are going to see I’m still not in a position where I want to be backing a player yet to win at this level at 16/1 no matter how well he went last week.
Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia come next in the market at 20/1. The Australian would have the profile I like around here in that he hits it a million miles but he never seems to score strongly at this level so I’ll pass him over. Bhatia was the third member of the final ground on Sunday last week but never looked like he was going to get the job done in that concluding 18 holes. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has another good week here but I prefer others.
Taylor Pendrith and Stephan Jaeger are the only other players in the betting who are shorter than 33/1 this week. I’ll come onto Pendrith shortly while Jaeger merits respect as he is that rare bird who has actually won a tournament that Scottie Scheffler has teed it up in this season. That hasn’t happened too often and he can get it out there and score well at the same time. He has a good recent record in this event too so he definitely merits a second look.
Main Bets
It is Taylor Pendrith who will be my first main bet though. I have backed him in the last two years here as I am absolutely convinced this player suits him perfectly. He probably should have won this in 2022 but couldn’t go with Tony Finau in the final round despite playing with him in the final group. It might be that he wasn’t ready to win then but another solid effort here last year only further convinces me he is going to win here at some point. He has now won on the PGA Tour this season having landed the Byron Nelson where the track there requires a similar profile to here. I’ll back him to win for the second time this year with my money on it.
The other main bet I like is another huge hitter in the form of Ryan Fox. It took the Kiwi a while to get settled on the PGA Tour this season but that seems to have happened now and he has returned form figures of two top 10s and a T32 in his last three regular tournaments. He didn’t play last week so he should be fresh to attack this tournament. He ticks the right boxes here. He belts it a mile and when he gets going he holes a lot of putts. He was -10 through two rounds of the Canadian Open at the beginning of the month and Bob MacIntyre only won on -16 so Fox probably felt like he should have been right in the mix there. I think he can make up for it here.
Outsiders
Chris Gotterup is a winner on the PGA Tour this season having won the Myrtle Beach Classic last month and although he has missed three cuts and finished down the field in a signature event since then the missed cuts were at the PGA Championship where he was making his major debut, at Colonial which is a tight track and at The Memorial where the course played very tough that week. He was down the field at the Travelers last week but that was down to an opening 75 where he must have had a real mare. He shot eight under for the last three rounds though so didn’t just sack it off. He is now back on a track where he can let the driver go and a bloke who smacks it a mile and holes putts has to have every chance here.
Pierceson Coody is the other one who hits the right numbers in the boxes I want this week. He ranked inside the top 15 for driving distance on the PGA Tour this season and he is in the top 20 for strokes gained putting as well and as I’ve said throughout this preview if you hit it long and putt well I want you on my shortlist. There isn’t a huge amount for the 24-year-old in terms of form but he was right in the mix at the Charles Schwab Challenge two starts ago but faded in the final round. Hopefully the taste of being in the deep end makes him go better the next time he is there and that could be this week. He is rested after a few weeks off and I’ll pay to see how this big hitter goes here.
Tips
Back T.Pendrith to win Rocket Mortgage Classic (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-8)
Back R.Fox to win Rocket Mortgage Classic (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-8)
Back him here:
Back C.Gotterup to win Rocket Mortgage Classic (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 111.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-8)
Back Pierceson Coody to win Rocket Mortgage Classic (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 201.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-8)
