The PGA Tour will travel to Detroit this week for the Rocket Mortgage Classic. This is a tough place to be on the PGA Schedule. The golfers played in a signature event (The Memorial), then the Canadian Open, the U.S. Open and another signature event (Travelers) last week. That is a lot of high stakes golf over the last three weeks. Most of the top golfers will be taking the week off. There will not be any golfers ranked in the top-20 of the World Golf Rankings in the field and only nine of the top-50 golfers will tee it up. We will have to dig deeper this week to find value picks for our DFS lineups for the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
COURSE BREAKDOWN
Detroit Golf Club will host the Rocket Mortgage Classic for the sixth time. The course is a par 72 which plays 7,340 yards in length. The course has a bit of everything. There are short par 3s, long par 3s, short par 4s, long par 4s, short par 5s and long par 5s. It should test every aspect of a golfer’s game this week. The fairways are lined with trees and the rough is expected to be rather long this week for a normal tour event. The greens will have Poa grass and they have a lot of slope to them. Poa can get bumpy this time of year so we need golfers who putt well on this type of grass.
The trend in the Rocket Mortgage Classic is for the leaderboard to be filled with golfers who bomb it off-the-tee. Accuracy really doesn’t matter much at Detroit Golf Club because this is a driver + wedge course. I will be targeting many golfers who play easy courses well.
Click here to see the course: Detroit Golf Club
ROCKET MORTGAGE KEY STATS
– Stroke Gained Off the Tee
– Strokes Gained Approach
– Strokes Gained Putting (Poa Greens)
– Birdie or Better %
Here is the recent form and course history for each golfer this week: History and Form
TOP 30 GOLFERS
CORE GOLFERS FOR ROCKET MORTGAGE
ROCKET MORTGAGE STRATEGY
This tournament seems to be wide open without Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and many of the other top golfers taking the week off. Since moving to Detroit, this tournament has been won by Cam Davis (twice), Tony Finau, Ricky Fowler, Bryson DeChambeau and Nate Lashley. DeChambeau is the only elite golfer to hold the trophy and he is not in the field this week. Collin Morikawa and Patrick Cantlay are two of the highest ranked golfers in the world, but they never win. I will spread the wealth this week and have shares of many golfers in Detroit. Hopefully, we can find that “diamond in the ruff” that will carry one of our lineups to the top prize.
My strategy for Cash Contests will be to start with Ben Griffen and stack some other players who are in good form with him. Griffin is red hot right now and he is showing no signs of slowing down. He is my pick to win Sunday.
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST
BEN GRIFFIN ($9,800): Griffin should win this week if he simply carries over the form that he has had over the last two months. He won the Zurich Classic, won the Charles Schwab, finished 2nd at the Memorial, 8th at the PGA Championship, 10th in the U.S. Open and 14th last week at the Travelers. Griffin ranks No. 1 in the Key Stats, No. 1 in Recent Form and No. 4 in Comp Courses. He should be an auto-play for all Cash Contest lineups.
HARRY HALL ($9,500): I thought pairing Patrick Cantlay with Ben Griffin in my Cash Contest lineup, but the stats are better for Hall and Griffin + Cantlay is going to be the chalk lineup for Cash Contests this week. Hall has finished five tournaments in a row in the top-24. He ranks No. 3 in the Key Stats this week and No. 2 on Comp Courses. I like his chances of finishing at the top of the leaderboard Sunday.
RICKIE FOWLER ($8,700): Fowler is sponsored by Rocket Mortgage so it is no surprise to see that he plays this tournament well. Fowler won this tournament in 2023 and he finished 13th last year. His form is pretty good this season with a 15th-place finish in the signature event at the Truist Championship, 16th-place finish at the Charles Schwab and a 7th-place finish in the signature event at the Memorial. Fowler should show up and play well in the tournament that his is an ambassador for.
CAM DAVIS ($7,400): I do not care about the form for Davis. He is an auto-play for me this week. Davis has won this tournament twice (2021 and last year). His form entering the tournament last year was 48th, MC, MC, 56, MC. It doesn’t matter what his form is. For some reason, Davis plays the Detroit Golf Club better then the field. He should be a good play for only $7,400.
EMILIANO GRILLO ($7,400): Grillo is the most miss-priced golfer in the field, according to his recent form and the stats. Grillo finished 20th at Myrtle Beach, 16th in the Charles Schwab, 24th at the Canadian Open and 19th in the U.S. Open. He ranks No. 2 in SG Tee-to-Green, No. 4 in SG Approach, No. 4 in SG Putting, No. 3 in Scrambling and No. 4 overall in the Key Stats. Grillo checks all of the boxes to win this tournament Sunday.
RYO HITSATSUNE ($7,200): The last spot in my Cash Contest lineup came down to Antoine Rozner and Ryo Hitsatsune. Both are in good form, Rozner ranks No. 7 in the Key Stats and Hitsatsune ranks No. 12. I decided to go with Hitsatsune because he finished 31st in this tournament last year. This will be the first trip to Detroit for Rozner. I will play the golfer with some course history, but both should be good plays this week.
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST
KEEGAN BRADLEY ($10,400): This is probably the first time I have ever paid over $10K for Bradley, but he is worth it this week. Bradley is on a mission to play his way onto the Ryder Cup Team. Captain America is probably already a lock for the team, but he wants to make it an easy choice. Bradley has played this tournament four times and never missed the cut. He also has the second-best form in the field behind Ben Griffin. I like Bradley’s chances to play well again this week.
PATRICK CANTLAY ($10,200): While Keegan Bradley is likely a lock for the Ryder Cup team; that is not the case for Cantlay. He currently ranks 14th in the Ryder Cup standings. The only reason why Cantlay is here is to earn more Ryder Cup points. Cantlay finished 2nd in the Rocket Mortgage Classic two years ago. Pairing Bradley and Cantlay gives this lineup a lot of firepower at the top.
CHRIS GOTTERUP ($8,000): The golfer that popped the most when I ran the Key Stats for this tournament was Gotterup. He ranks No. 1 in SG Tee-to-Green and No. 1 in SG Off-the-Tee over the last 16 rounds. He is a bomber who should play this course well. I was shocked to see that no one in the Fantasy Golf Industry is talking about him this week. I will trust my research and play Gotterup at a bomber’s course.
VICTOR PEREZ ($7,400): Cam Davis and Emiliano Grillo are both $7,400 and they should be the highest-owned golfers from the $7K price range this week. I will pivot to Perez who is also $7,400. Perez finished 9th in the Canadian Open and 19th in the U.S. Open, so his form is trending up. He ranks No. 14 in the Key Stats so the numbers like him too. I will play a lower-owned Perez this week and hope he pops up near the top of the leaderboard Sunday.
ANTOINE ROZNER ($7,000): I did not play Rozner in my Cash Contest lineup, so I will take a chance with him in my Tournament Contest lineup. All Rozner does is make cuts. He has made 11 cuts in a row dating bake to early January. He ranks No. 7 in the Key Stats, so the numbers like him too. Rozner has a high floor and the ceiling is just high enough to make him a good play for both Cash and Tournament Contest lineups this week.
MAX MCGREEVY ($7,000): McGreevy did not stand out when I looked at recent form or when I ran the Key Stats for this tournament. He did pop big time when I looked at Comp Courses. McGreevy is one of the best players in the field at bomb it and wedge it courses. He ranks No. 2 on Comp Courses. No one is going to own him this week, so I will take a chance with McGreevy in Detroit.
Here are my lineups for Multi-Entry Tournament Contests: (Multi Entry Lineups)
FANDUEL CASH CONTEST
FANDUEL TOURNAMENT CONTEST
PGATOUR.COM FANTASY PICKS
* This is the fourth tournament in Segment 3. This is the toughest Segment to navigate. We have two majors (U.S. Open and the Open Championship), one Signature Event (Travelers Championship) and the PGA Playoffs (St. Jude, BMW Championship and Tour Championship). That is a lot of stacked tournaments requiring our top golfers, so make your picks wisely this week.
FANTASY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP ONE & DONE PICK: CAMERON YOUNG (ROCKET MORTGAGE)
Players in Fantasy Golf Championship One & Done so far: Ben Griffin (14TH), Joaquin Niemann (MC), Taylor Pendrith (27th), Xander Schauffele (25th), Harris English (53rd), Bryon DeChambeau (2ND ), Justin Thomas (2nd), Byeong-Hun An (60th), Daniel Berger (3rd), Jon Rahm (14TH), Keegan Bradley (47TH), Aaron Rai (MC), Tommy Fleetwood (16TH), Scottie Scheffler (20th), Rory McIlroy (15th), Shane Lowry (11TH), Akshay Bhatia (9TH), Collin Morikawa (17th), Tom Kim (44th), Patrick Cantlay (33rd), Jason Day (32nd), Sungjae Im (MC), Corey Conners (MC)
SEASON-LONG ONE & DONE PICK: KEEGAN BRADLEY (ROCKET MORTGAGE)
– One & Done picks used so far this season: Xander Schauffele (61ST), Bryson DeChambeau (MC), Sam Burns (2nd), Sepp Straka (3rd), Aaron Rai (MC), Rory McIlroy (47TH), Justin Thomas (2nd), Sungjae Im (33rd), Thomas Detry (32ND), Patrick Cantlay (13th), Jon Rahm 14TH), Akshay Bhatia (MC), J.J. Spaun (MC), Corey Conners (8TH), Scottie Scheffler (20th), Ludvig Aberg (22nd), Daniel Berger (25TH), Patrick Rodgers (25TH), Taylor Pendrith (50th), Nick Taylor (25th), Collin Morikawa (17th), Jason Day (32nd), Russell Henley (10th), (Sungjae Im (3rd), Ben Griffin (15th), Nico Echavarria (29TH), Harris English (14TH), Beau Hossler (56TH), Tom Kim (MC), Keith Mitchell (MC)
BEST BETS FOR THE ROCKER MORTGAGE
BEN GRIFFIN +2200
CAMERON YOUNG +2200
HARRY HALL +3000
RICKY FOWLER +4000
CHRIS GOTTERUP+5000
EMILIANO GRILLO +6500
Good Luck This Week!!!!
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