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 two “signature events” with the U.S. Open sandwiched in the middle. 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 last three winners of the Rocket Mortgage Classic include Tony Finau, Cam Davis and Bryson DeChambeau. These three golfers all finished in the top-three in Driving Distance when they won. Length off-the-tee is going to be important this week. We will see a lot of drivers and wedges on these easy par fours.
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 is going to be a tough week. Tom Kim and Cameron Young are clearly the best golfers in the field, but are they worth their high price? We typically get golfers like Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy in the $10K + price range. These golfers are worth their high price because they consistently finish in the top-10. That is not the case for Tom Kim, Cameron Young, Min Woo Lee and Alex Noren. I like Young’s chances of winning the most, so I will play him and fade the rest (I do like Tom Kim for some Cash Contest lineups though).
The three golfers I like the most for their price this week are Akshay Bhatia, Taylor Pendrith and Maverick McNealy. These golfers check all of the boxes, so I will be using them a lot in my Cash and Tournament Contests. I want to stay away from the golfers priced under $7K in my Cash Contest lineups, so I will be using a lot of the golfers listed in my core from the $8K range this week.
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST
AKSHAY BHATIA ($9,800): Bhatia won the Valero Texas Open earlier this season and he has a great chance to win again Sunday. Bhatia is in excellent form He finished 22nd in the signature event at the Memorial, 16th in the U.S. Open and 5th last week in the signature event at the Travelers Championship. Bhatia is a good golfer to start your Cash Contest lineup with this week.
TAYLOR PENDRITH ($9,600): Pendrith is coming in on a hot streak. He won the Byron Nelson, finished 16th in the U.S. Open and 23rd last week at the Travelers Championship. Pendrith has good course history at Detroit Golf Club. He finished 2nd in this tournament in 2022 and 14th last year. Pendrith should be near the top of the leaderboard Sunday.
MAVERICK MCNEALY ($8,900): McNealy has the game to play well at Detroit Golf Club. He is long off the tee and ranks high in Birdie or Better %. His recent form is really good too. McNealy has made every cut since early January (12 in a row) and that includes a seventh-place finish in his last tournament (RBC Canadian Open). McNealy is a safe golfer, with a lot of upside for your Cash Contest lineup this week.
MATT WALLACE ($7,400): It may be a shocker to the people who have followed my picks all year, but Mark Hubbarb and his 23 consecutive made cuts in not in my Cash Contest lineup. It is not because I do not like Hubbarb, but because I could not fit him into a lineup with the three golfers listed above. Instead, I will pivot to Wallace. He has made five cuts in a row and ranks No. 4 in the key stats. Wallace has never missed a cut in this tournament (3 for 3), so I will take a chance with the Englishman in my Cash Contest lineup.
SAM STEVENS ($7,200): There is a lot to like about Stevens this week. He is a bomber off-the-tee who ranks No. 11 in the key stats this week. His recent form is also really good. Stevens finished 10th at Myrtle Beach and 14th at the RBC Canadian Open. He also made a trip to the Korn Ferry Tour a few weeks ago and finished second. Stevens skill set fits Detroit Golf Club well so I will play him in my Cash Contest lineup.
LEE HODGES ($7,100): I played Hodges in my Cash Contest lineup in a stacked field last week, so of course I am going to use him in the week field in Detroit. Hodges has made six cuts in a row on the PGA Tour. That includes three finishes in the top-25. Hodges ranks 12th in the key stats, so the numbers are on his side to play well this week. Hodges is just too cheap to pass up at $7,100.
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
CAMERON YOUNG ($10,700): The 2024 PGA Tour has been the season of first time winners. Young should be the next golfer to earn his first trophy and I think it happens this week. Maybe I am chasing the 59 he shot last week at the Travelers, but I want bombers who can score in my lineup. Young is the best in the field. Young finished 2nd in his only trip to Detroit Golf Club in 2022. He will have a good chance to finish one spot better this week.
STEPHAN JAEGAR ($9,400): Jaegar is a “course horse” who has been playing good golf this season. He finished 5th at the Rocket Mortgage in 2022 and 9th last year. Jaegar finished 21st in the U.S. Open and 31st at the Travelers. Those fields were significantly tougher than what we have this week. Jaegar has the game and the form to finish in the top-10 Sunday.
AARON RAI ($8,800): The winner of the 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic will be Aaron Rai if you believe the stats. He ranks No. 1 in SG Tee-to-Green, No. 8 in SG Approach, No. 4 in Birdie of Better %, No. 8 in Driving Distance and No. 1 in the keys stats. Rai finished 9th in this tournament last year. He will have a good chance to finish in the top-10 again this week.
ADAM SVENSSON ($7,600): I like golfers who are in good form, have good course history and rank highly in the key stats. Svensson checks all of the boxes. He has made 11 cuts in a row on the PGA Tour, so the form is good. Svensson has also made the cut in his last two trips to Detroit Golf Club. He ranks 19th in the key stats, so everything is lining up for Svensson to be near the top of the leaderboard Sunday.
DANIEL BERGER ($7,000): Why is Daniel Berger $7K in this week field? I know he hasn’t finished many tournaments in the top-10 this year, but his upside is way higher than the golfers in his price range. Berger just finished 21st in the U.S. Open and that field was much tougher than what we have this week. Berger ranks No. 9 in SG Tee-to-Green, No. 5 in SG Approach, No. 16 in Birdie or Better % and No. 18 in the key stats. I know Berger will be highly owned, but I will eat the chalk this week.
TROY MERRITT ($6,300): Merritt has the best course history out of the golfers priced under $7K and it isn’t even close. He finished 8th, 2nd, 14th and 17th in his last four trips to Detroit Golf Club. He has made four of his last five cuts on the PGA Tour. That is better form than he had entering this tournament over the last two seasons. His course history is just too good to pass up at $6,300 this week.
Here are my lineups for Multi-Entry Tournament Contest: (Multi Entry Lineups)
FANDUEL CASH CONTEST LINEUP
FANDUEL TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
PGATOUR.COM FANTASY PICKS
* This is the fourth tournament in Segment 3. This is the toughest segment to navigate. We had two signature events the third major (U.S. Open), and we still have the Open Championship and the three FedEx Playoff events. The Top golfers in the world will be playing a lot over the summer, so we need to save some of our top golfers for the playoffs.
FANTASY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP ONE & DONE PICK: CAMERON YOUNG (ROCKET MORTGAGE)
Players in Fantasy Golf Championship One & Done so far: Ludvig Arberg (27th), Xander Schauffele (7th), Viktor Hovland (15th), Rory McIlroy (4th), Colin Morikawa (3rd), Books Koepka (26th), Wyndham Clark (47th), Tom Hoge (41st), Matthew Fitzpatrick (28th), Jon Rahm (45th), Hideki Matsuyama (7th), Will Zalatoris (74th), Maverick McNealy (45th), Justin Thomas (MC), Scottie Scheffler (Won), Russell Henley (41st), Tony Finau (13TH), Sahith Theegala (37th), Sam Burns (3rd), Max Homa (66th), Jason Day (MC), Taylor Montgomery (61st), Corey Conners (57th)
SEASON-LONG ONE & DONE PICK: TALOR PENDRITH (ROCKET MORTGAGE)
One & Done picks used so far this season: Brian Harman (9TH), Hideki Matsuyama (6th), Byeong Hun An (22nd), Rory McIlroy (4th), Colin Morikawa (3rd), Bryson DeChambeau (2nd), Max Homa (8th), K.H. Lee (59th), Adam Hadwin (10TH), Patrick Cantlay (3rd), Jon Rahm (45th), Corey Conners (25th), Keith Mitchell (MC), Sam Burns (MC), Shane Lowry (19th), Matthew Fitzpatrick (MC), Eric Cole (MC), Nicolai Hojgaard (52nd), Adam Scott (19th), J.T. Poston (MC), Jordan Spieth (39th), Keegan Bradley (43rd), Andrew Putnam (47th), Russell Henley (4th), Sungae Im (5th), Alex Noran (Won), Beau Hossler (15TH), Min Woo Lee (6th), Adam Schenk (MC), Eric Cole (35TH), Sahith Theegala (Won)
ROCKET MORTGAGE BEST BETS
CAMERON YOUNG (18-1)
AKSHAY BHATIA (22-1)
MAVERICK MCNEALY (28-1)
TAYLOR PENDRITH (30-1)
LEE HODGES (70-1)
Good Luck This Week!!!!
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