After the Travelers Championship, the PGA Tour heads to Detroit this week for the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic. Detroit Golf Club has hosted this event annually since 2019, with Tony Finau as the defending champion. Last year, Finau passed Patrick Cantlay, Cam Young and Taylor Pendrith with a low score of 262 (-26). With the final major of the season just weeks away, here’s everything you need to know for the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club.
detroit golf club
Detroit Golf Club will play just shy of 7,400 yards at Par 72 this week. We’ve seen some low winning scores here in the last five years, the lowest being Finau’s 262 (-26) last year. Past winning scores also include young Cam Davis in 2021 (-18), Bryson DeChambeau in 2020 (-23) and Nate Lashley in his event debut (-25). We should see more of the same this week, as the course will be played in much the same way as previous years.
Although we will see birdies, there are some difficult holes along the course.
holes to see
Holes 2 and 6 will probably be the hardest on the front. 2 is a 453-yard par 4, with out of bounds and bunkers in play. Look for many players to tee off a wood or iron. Hole 6 is another long par 4 with a large fairway bunker on the right hand side. This hole played out as the third hardest for the course last year, producing 91 bogeys over the course of the week. Aside from these two holes, the front nine should be pretty course-able.
After a 10 obtainablehe hole, 11 and 12 will probably play like the most difficult two-hole stretch of the course. 11 is a 233-yard par 3 with a steeply sloping green and will challenge the course with a long iron. The par 4 of 463 yards 12he The hole has a false front leading to a steep, elevated green, where the course only made 52 birdies on this hole in 2022. These two holes also combined for a brutal 207 bogeys over the week of last year.
In general, Detroit Golf Club will play similar to previous years. Expect this week’s winning score to be around 266 (-22).
Field
Let’s take a look at the full field and the betting odds.
With eight of the world’s top 30 ranked players on the field, we very well could see a first-time PGA Tour winner this week. Three of the previous four champions will be on the field, with the exception of Bryson DeChambeau. Defending champion Tony Finau is the favorite (+1300), with Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler just behind him (+1500).
Other notables in the field include Max Homa, Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Tom Kim and last week’s traveling champion Keegan Bradley. Don’t be surprised to see some of these names topping the rankings on Sunday.
players to watch
Although Rickie missed the cut here last year, he’s been red hot lately. His recent results include a T-9, T-6, T-5 at the US Open and a T-13 last week at TPC River Highlands. We haven’t seen Rickie display this level of consistency in years, so expect more of the same from him this week as he cruises around Detroit Golf Club.
Zac Blair, Brian Harman and Chez Reavie finished in the top five last week at the Travelers and will be on the Detroit Golf Club course. Look for these guys to make the cut and continue their solid game, as this week’s layout is pretty similar to last week’s at TPC River Highlands.
Harris English has made nine of his last ten cuts. His recent best results include a T-5 at the US Open and a T-3 at Wells Fargo in May. His putter has been the difference for him so far this season as he ranks 11thhe on tour to put within 10 feet, and 17he in strokes won putting. If his putter can stay warm, he should be in the mix on Sunday.
First timer?
England’s Aaron Rai is coming off a T-3 last week and a T-24 at the RBC Canadian Open earlier this month. Starting this week, Rai ranks sixthhe on tour in driving precision. He looks to build on his momentum this week in Detroit.
Justin Suh has made 21 of his last 23 cuts. His best results this year are a T-5 at the Honda Classic and a T-6 just a few weeks later at the Players. He’s continued to put himself in position to compete this season, so expect him to make the cut once again at Detroit Golf Club. Suh has handled the ball well so far this year and has 3rd on tour putting 10 to 15 ft. In a slightly shorter course, this could be the week that Suh finally puts all the pieces together.
Ludvig Aberg, a Swedish PGA Tour rookie from Texas Tech, will be on the course this week. He has made the weekend at all four events he has played in so far this year, most recently the RBC Canadian Open and last week at the Travelers. He finished T-25 or better in three of the four. If he can build on last week, we could see him make some noise come Sunday.
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