PGA Picks and Odds: Rickie Fowler aiming for repeat win at Rocket Mortgage Classic

The lone annual PGA Tour event in Michigan is on tap this week with the Rocket Mortgage Classic from Detroit with Tom Kim favoured on the golf odds.

It’s definitely a weak field this week from Motown – only 10 of the world’s Top 50 and none in the Top 20 — as the event is in a pretty bad spot following the U.S. Open and then last week’s final big-money Signature Event of the season, the Travelers Championship outside Hartford won by world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. At some point, the top guys are going to take a week off and most are here. Frankly, Scheffler simply taking a week opens up the field because he has been so dominant in 2024.

The Rocket Mortgage Classic debuted in 2019 and is the first-ever PGA Tour event to be held completely within the Detroit city limits. Detroit Golf Club’s North Course is largely the host, a very flat par 72 at around 7,370 yards. The South Course’s first hole is used as the third hole for the tournament and then 17 other North Course holes. The club is set to undergo a major renovation, starting with the North Course, after the completion of next year’s Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Americans have won this tournament four of the five years and the defending champion is Rickie Fowler. He, Collin Morikawa and Canadian Adam Hadwin all finished 72 holes at 24-under 264 last year – Fowler birdied his 72nd hole to get into the playoff and then won it by birdieing the first hole of said playoff. Hadwin missed a 22-foot putt and Morikawa his chip for birdie. It was Fowler’s sixth PGA Tour victory and his first since winning the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open. Fowler hasn’t won since and is struggling this year. We backed an American winner last year at -263 so that paid off. Fowler is +4000 to repeat.

Perhaps the most-watched player the first two rounds this week will be 15-year-old Miles Russell, who will make his PGA Tour debut on a sponsor’s exemption. The reigning American Junior Golf Association Player of the Year finished in a tie for 20th at the Korn Ferry Tour’s LECOM Suncoast Classic in April, becoming the youngest player since at least 1983 to finish in the Top 25 in a Korn Ferry Tour or PGA Tour event. The lefty won the AJGA Player of the Year award at a younger age than Tiger Woods did. China’s Guan Tianlang is the youngest to make the cut in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event as he was 14 when he made the cut in the 2013 Masters.

Also making his PGA Tour debut will be Neal Shipley (+17500 to win), who finished as low amateur at the Masters and the U.S. Open this year. The 2023 U.S. Amateur runner-up turned pro this week.

Rocket Mortgage Classic Golf Odds

South Korean Tom Kim finished runner-up to Scottie Scheffler at the Travelers Championship on Sunday, losing a playoff, but is the +1200 favourite here. Kim led after each of the first, second and third rounds in Connecticut. He missed the cut here last year but was seventh in 2022.

Cameron Young is +1400 this week with Min Woo Lee +2000 and Akshay Bhatia +2200. Young on Saturday at the Travelers Championship became the 12th player all-time to shoot 59 or better on the PGA Tour but finished ninth. Young is still looking for his first PGA Tour win and was runner-up here in

2022 to Tony Finau before not playing last year. Lee makes his tournament debut. The 25-year-old has one Top 10 this year back in March. Bhatia was fifth at the Travelers Championship and missed the cut in his debut here last year.

No Canadian has won here. We noted Adam Hadwin was co-runner-up last year, while Taylor Pendrith was T14 and Adam Svensson T40. Michael Gligic missed the cut following rounds of 75-70. Pendrtih is +2800 this week with Svensson +5000, Ben Silverman +15000 and Roger Sloan +50000.

Rocket Mortgage Classic Golf Predictions

I like Alex Noren at +2800 to win as the Swede has been ninth and fourth his two previous trips to Detroit and frankly is overdue a PGA Tour victory at age 41. He won’t face much easier fields.