The final Signature Event of the season brought plenty of drama last week and capped off a great month of golf on the PGA TOUR which included dramatic finishes, surprise winners, and plenty of big payouts. This week, the PGA TOUR heads to Michigan to start a three-week run-up to the Open Championship, the final major of the season. The 2025 Rocket Classic will take place June 26-29 in Detroit, Michigan at Detroit Golf Club. As we get ready for what should be another fun week of action, let’s break down a quick history of the event and what to expect from the course this week.
The History
The tournament doesn’t have an extremely long history like many recent events, but it is quickly becoming a popular stop. It debuted in 2019 and has always been held at Detroit Golf Club.
Nate Lashley won the inaugural tournament by six strokes in 2019, and since then winners have included Rickie Fowler, Tony Finau, and defending champion Cameron Davis. Davis won this event in 2021 in a playoff, and last year he claimed his second career win on this course by edging out Min Woo Lee, Akshay Bhatia, Aaron Rai and Davis Thompson by one stroke.
Due to a sponsor rebrand, the event has a slightly new name this season after being called the Rocket Mortgage Classic since it began in 2019. Now known as the Rocket Classic, this week’s event will also have a new trophy, which made the rounds in Detroit on its way to the Detroit Golf Club.
The winner this week will receive 500 FedExCup points in addition to the trophy and a hefty share of the $9.6 million purse. After a few different formats for majors and Signature Events, this week’s tournament has the standard field size and 36-hole cut to the top 65 and ties.
The field is a relatively strong one, as my colleague Ciaran Doyle laid out on Sunday.
A Closer Look at the Course
Detroit Golf Club is a par-72 layout in one of the neighborhoods on the north side of Detroit. The course dates back to 1899, when the private club built a six-hole course on a plot of farmland at 6 Mile and Woodward. Famous golf architect Donald Ross designed the current 36-hole configuration just before World War I, and his brother served as Club Professional until 1945.
Ross designs typically place a premium on putting, and this week’s track continues that trend alongside his other notable designs at East Lake and Sedgefield Country Club. The North Course is a classic parkland setup with tree-lined fairways, but it doesn’t have many water or lateral hazards. The fairways are a little more open than most parkland courses, which usually leads to players blasting away off the tee since the rough is not that difficult to escape.
In the past few seasons, the course has played as a “bomb and gauge” course that rewards players with plenty of distance off the tee. The wider fairways place more emphasis on approach shots and excellent putting than accuracy off the tee.
The course has given up plenty of low scores in the last few years, with the winner typically ending up around -20.
Here’s an overview of the course from before the inaugural event a few years ago. The course has stayed fairly consistent since the tournament debuted, but a major update and overhaul will begin after this week’s event concludes.
This week is a time to lean into players who have lots of distance off the tee. Strokes Gained: Approach is also critical, along with Strokes Gained: Putting, especially on hybrid Bent/Poa greens. Birdie or Better % and how players fare in low-scoring events are other things to consider in your fantasy selections for this week, and players who have succeeded on this track over the last few years or on other Donald Ross designs also deserve a little extra boost.
Stay tuned to DraftKings Network for best bets and fantasy golf picks throughout the week! It should be another fun summer tournament in the Midwest before the focus shifts across the pond in a couple weeks.
