Rocket Mortgage Classic: DeChambeau looks to defend in Detroit

The PGA Tour heads back to Detroit for the third edition of the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club.

The tournament was one of the first in the Tour’s return to golf in 2020 and saw Bryson DeChambeau win by three shots over Matthew Wolff.

And DeChambeau returns to defend his title alongside a field full of stars including; Phil Mickelson, Jason Kokrak and Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama.

Course/Field

Course: Detroit Golf Club
Length: 7340 yards (Par 72)
Greens: Bentgrass with poa mixed in
Opened: 1918
Architect: Donald Ross

Since this is just the third year that DGC has hosted of a tour event, we do not have much to go on, but we got some data to try and analyse from the past two years.

Like with most of Donald Ross’s designs, DGC has treelined severely undulated but pretty straight fairways which are much easier to hit than the tour average despite the driving distance being 13 yards longer than average.

The greens are a little smaller than tour average bentgrass, protected by bunkers and, like the fairways, seriously undulated and as fast 12-12.5 on the stimp last year.

It’s a Par 72 with four par 5s where three of them should be reachable by most in the field. The par 4s are a good mix of shorter (4x<400 yards) and longer (4x>450 yards) holes.

The par 3s are also varied with two of the holes measuring around 160 yards while the other two are well over 200 yards.

Once again, we do not have a lot of data to go and while Lashley won with a combination of iron play and putting, Bryson did it with off the tee and putting.

Nate Lashley won at -25 two years ago and Bryson at -23 last year so you better be able to go low if you are going to contend in the Motor City this week.

Here are some of the things I will be looking at/for:

Strokes gained approach
Proximity 100-150 yards
Par 5 scoring
Birdies or better gained
Opportunities gained
Putting

Betting history

2019-20 season

Wagered:+35.61 units
ROI: 121%

2020-21 season

Wagered: 284 units
Won: 524.92 units
Result: 240.92 units

Outright winners

Waste Management: Brooks Koepka 41-1, Genesis Invitational: Max Homa 56-1, The Players Championship: Justin Thomas 19-1, Valero Texas Open: Jordan Spieth 11-1, Palmetto Championship: Garrick Higgo 36-1

Picks

Jason Kokrak @ 23.00
3pts EW (1/4 the odds 5 places)

The two-time winner on tour this season should set up perfectly to collect his third title at a place where his one-go-around at this venue ended with a respectable T29 two seasons ago.

When he has won or contended over the past year his road to success has been a combination of length off the tee, crisp iron play and at times an unconscious putter a recipe that should be perfect here.

He comes in at the top of my model this week ranking 1^st in par 5 scoring, 3^rd in both putting and birdies or better gained and 9^th in strokes gained off the tee.

Garrick Higgo @ 51.00
2pts EW (1/4 the odds 5 places)

The future star is now back down to the same odds as when he won at the Palmetto Championship three weeks ago following missed cuts at the US Open and last week on the number at Travelers.

Last week he was actually good in all facets of the game except around the green where he managed to lose almost 4 strokes in two rounds.

It’s also worth remembering that his wins on the European tour have come in birdie fests like the one we expect this week and like Kokrak he is long off the tee with a crisp iron game and from his euro stats he seems to be an elite putter.