After watching Scottie Scheffler win for the sixth time this season at the Travelers Championship, the PGA TOUR makes its way to Detroit Golf Club (par 72, 7,370 yards, Bentgrass/POA mix greens) for the Rocket Mortgage Classic. This event was added to the PGA TOUR schedule six years ago and the Donald Ross designed Detroit Golf Club has hosted every edition of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Last year, Rickie Fowler broke a four-year drought without a victory, winning this tournament at -24, defeating Adam Hadwin and Collin Morikawa in a playoff. This week’s field features 156 golfers and there will be a standard top-65 and ties cut following the first two rounds.
Detroit Golf Club is a scoreable par 72, that is home to wide fairways, thin rough, small greens, 87 bunkers and water in play on only one hole. With four of the five champions at this Ross design shooting -23 or better, it’s safe to say Detroit Golf Club is one of the easiest courses on the annual PGA TOUR schedule. We have seen both long and short hitters win at this venue and any length of player can be targeted this week.
Golfers who are in excellent form with both their irons and putter need to be our priorities, with Detroit Golf Club being a quintessential second-shot course. Of the five winners at this track, three have finished the event T14th or better in both SG APP and SGP. We also need to be targeting strong par-5 scorers at this birdie fest, specifically golfers who are efficient on 550-600-yard par 5s. Three of four par fives at Detroit Golf Club fall in this range and every Rocket Mortgage Classic champion has finished the tournament top-four in efficiency on these specific holes.
Below, I break down four of my favorite sub $7.5K DraftKings bargain plays for the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $300K DRIVE THE GREEN [$50K TO 1ST]
Matt Wallace ($7,400) – Wallace has been terrific at Detroit Golf Club. The English professional has never missed a cut at the par 72 in three starts and two of these finishes have been top-12 results. Wallace now returns to the Motor City as the maker of six of his past seven cuts worldwide, and during this timeframe, has produced five top-30 finishes, most notably with a T4 at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson last month.
Gaining strokes on approach at four straight events, Wallace’s irons have been sensational, and he also ranks 17th in SGP when we compare this field’s last 50 rounds. Wallace checks all the boxes this week and is an elite value play at this affordable salary.
Lee Hodges ($7,100) – Hodges is a very appealing target at this low-price tag. The 29-year-old has made the cut in each of his last six solo starts and he has finished T31st or better at four of these tournaments, including T12 at the PGA Championship, which is his best major finish to date. Hodges closed the Travelers Championship with a five-under 65 last Sunday and his ball striking has been great recently, with him ranking seventh in SG APP over his last 24 rounds.
Hodges finished T44 at Detroit Golf Club two years ago and he should outdo himself with an even better result this time around, given his awesome form.
Daniel Berger ($7,000) – While Berger has never competed at Detroit Golf Club before, the veteran is far too cheap for his talent and should thrive in this weak field. After missing around a year and half due to a back injury, Berger returned to the PGA TOUR this season and he is finally starting to look like the player we saw rank as high No.12 in the world a few years ago.
Berger is coming off an impressive T21 at the U.S. Open, which was played at the very challenging Pinehurst No. 2. During this finish, the 31-year-old was outstanding as a ball striker, finishing the major sixth and third in SGT2G and SG APP, respectively. Berger has advanced to the weekend in six of his past seven solo starts and he ranks 14th in SG APP for the season. Including a win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 2021 – in which he finished at -18 – Berger has a history of flourishing at low scoring tournaments, and his stellar iron play should lift him to a top-25 finish in Detroit this weekend.
Neal Shipley ($6,300) – After finishing as the low amateur at the Masters with a T53 finish at Augusta National, Shipley posted a T26 at Pinehurst No.2 for the U.S. Open two weeks ago, which was also the best finish by an amateur at that major. Shipley is only the seventh golfer ever to finish with low amateur honors at both the Masters and the U.S. Open in the same year – he is the first to do it since Viktor Hovland in 2019 – and Shipley turned professional following these impressive major finishes. This past week, he made his professional debut at the PGA TOUR America’s Beachlands Victoria Open and continued to impress with a T9 finish. Now, Shipley will make his debut at a standard PGA TOUR event this week at Detroit Golf Club, which should set up well for his game, considering Shipley just finished T26th at another Ross’ design in Pinehurst No. 2 two weeks ago.
Shipley is criminally underpriced for his upside in this weak field and he should come with little ownership, as he is an unfamiliar name to casual golf fans. Additionally, Shipley is a very enticing bet for a top-20 finish at +600 on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $300K DRIVE THE GREEN [$50K TO 1ST]
The Crown Is Yours: Sign up for DraftKings and experience the ultimate host for games and betting experiences!
I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is Hunta512) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skills and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
