The PGA TOUR travels to Detroit Golf Club (par 72, 7,370 yards, Bentgrass/POA greens) this week for the Rocket Mortgage Classic. This marks fourth edition of this tournament and the fourth consecutive season this Donald Ross design has hosted the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Defeating Troy Merritt and Joaquin Niemann in a playoff, Cameron Davis is the defending champion of this event, finishing the week at -18.
After facing a venue in TPC Twin Cities that has water lurking around every corner this past week, Detroit Golf Club only has one single water hazard on site. Combine this with wide fairways, thin rough and large greens, and this par 72 is without a doubt one of the easiest tracks on the annual PGA TOUR schedule. For the first three Rocket Mortgage Classics played at Detroit Golf Club, the average winning score has been -22. Additionally, the cutline has been at least two strokes under par for all three of these tournaments.
With little trouble to worry about off the tee at Detroit Golf Club, players can freely rip their driver at this course, and we have seen the past two champions at this Ross creation finish the event inside the top eight in driving distance. Conversely, Nate Lashley only ranked 44th in the metric when he won the inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic in 2019. This shows us any length of player can thrive at this venue, but if juggling between two golfers this week, giving an edge to the longer player certainly makes sense.
Like every course that yields low numbers, having an impressive showing with your irons and flat stick is essential at Detroit Club Golf. Of three champions at this track, two have ranked inside the top 10 in SG APP, and two have either led their field or finished as the runner-up in SGP. Finally, scoring on both the par 4s and 5s is imperative to contend at Detroit Golf Club. At the first two editions of the Rocket Mortgage Classic, the winners led their fields in SG on the par 4s. As for the par 5s, the four at this par 72 rank as the four easiest holes on the scorecard, and all three of the first Rocket Mortgage victors ranked in the top five in SG on these holes during their victories.
Following the very weak field at the 3M Open, the Rocket Mortgage Classic is certainly an improvement, with five of the top 20 ranked players in the world competing. Also, it is important to note this is the second-to-last tournament before the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and only the top 125 players in FedEx Cup points will earn a ticket to the first leg of the postseason at the Northern Trust in two weeks. So, when deciding your player pool this week, be sure to be checking each golfer’s FedEx Cup rank, as the players hovering around top 125 will absolutely be extremely motivated to move up the standings this week.
Below, I dive into four of my favorite sub-$7.5K DraftKings value plays for the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: $1M Pitch + Putt [$250K to 1st]
Chris Gotterup ($7,400) – Last week at the 3M Open, Gotterup opened the event with a 4-over 75. Instead of mailing it in and calling it a week like most 23-year-old’s would, Gotterup fought back and posted a 4-under 67 on Friday, putting him inside the cutline. Following that dud in the first round, Gotterup went -8 for the final three days of the tournament, en route to a T31 in his debut at TPC Twin Cities. For the week, the Rutgers product ranked inside the top 15 in both SGT2G and SG APP, and he also led the field by a wide margin in driving distance. Gotterup has now advanced to the weekend in four of his first six starts on the PGA TOUR, including a pair of top-10 finishes, one of which was a T4 at the John Deere Classic earlier this month. The bomber should flourish in his first attempt at Detroit Golf Club this week and is vastly underpriced for his potential at this birdie-fest.
C.T. Pan ($7,300) – Ignore that Pan missed the weekend in his lone start at Detroit Golf Club in 2020 and confidently attack the 30-year-old this week. When Pan made his Rocket Mortgage Classic debut two years ago, he was in the midst of an ugly stretch, with his missed cut in Detroit being his seventh in his first nine starts of the new year. This time around, Pan comes into the week making 13 of his past 15 cuts, with six finishes of T31 or better coming during this timeframe. Statistically, the Washington graduate ranks 27th in SG APP and 18th in SG on par 4s across his past 36 rounds. Furthermore, Pan has found a nice groove with his putter as of late, positively gaining strokes on the greens in six of his last seven starts. Pan’s price tag has inexcusably dropped $800 over the last two weeks, making him an easy choice at this cheap salary.
Greyson Sigg ($7,100) – Sigg is playing terrific golf right now, finishing T16, T27, T26 and T7 in his last four starts. That latest result came this past week at the 3M Open, when the 27-year-old showcased some tremendous ball striking, generating 8.9 strokes from T2G and 5.9 strokes on approach, both of which set new career highs for Sigg. Plus, on moving day, the former Georgia Bulldog tied for the lowest round on the course and tied his career low on the PGA TOUR with a 7-under 64 at TPC Twin Cities. Overall, Sigg has impressively finished under par in 13 of his 16 rounds during this four-event stretch. Despite this being his Rocket Mortgage Classic debut, Sigg has top-20 upside this week and is a must-have value at this low price point. While it was for a softer field at the Barracuda Championship, Sigg was priced all the way up to a career-high $9,100 two weeks ago.
Michael Gligic ($7,000) – Gligic recorded a respectable T41 finish at last year’s Rocket Mortgage Classic and should produce an even better result this week behind some outstanding form. The 32-year-old hasn’t missed a cut at eight straight tournaments while shooting even par or better in 26 of these 32 rounds. Half of these finishes have been top-25 results, and this span of eight events has moved Gligic up over 100 spots in the world golf rankings. Over his past 24 rounds, Gligc ranks 17th in BOB%, 11th in SGP, third in SG on par 5s and 31st in driving distance. To top it all off, he will surely be extremely focused this week, currently sitting outside the FedEx Cup Playoffs bubble, ranking 140th in points. Not only is Gligic a steal as a DFS option, but he is a very enticing bet for a top-20 finish at +400 on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: $1M Pitch + Putt [$250K to 1st]
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