Patrick Waters 
The Range is a course breakdown for the upcoming PGA tournament with a DFS perspective. This week the tour heads to Detroit, Michigan as the players face off in the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
The Basics
Course: Detroit Golf Club
Par: 72
Length: 7,294 yards
Fairways: Bentgrass
Greens: Bentgrass (5,150 sq ft average)
Architect: Donald Ross
Past winner: ’19 Lashley (-25)
For a hole by hole breakdown, visit the PGA Tour website here!
Course Breakdown
In 2019, it was the inaugural year of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. As a new course on the tour, no one knew what to expect. Lashley making it as an alternate to dominate the field in the tournament’s first win, certainly wasn’t one of them.
Despite the yardage of the course, it was a mixed bag of distance off the tee in the top 20 last year. Bombers had a slight edge overall but short hitters did just fine. Strokes gained off the tee were negligible but the iron game was a different story. Nine of the top 20 last year were in the top 20 in SG: Approach. Green in Regulation also dominated the leaders as 17/20 led the field in GIR.
What was most surprising though was the hot putters that were leading the field. Out of the top 20 golfers, 14 were inside the top 20 including Lashley, who was second. Looking deeper though it seemed some golfers just got hot with the flat stick but more likely they were sticking it close. Out of the top 20 who gained the most strokes putting only four were inside the top 30 coming in. To elaborate, only five golfers who were in the top 30 coming in finished inside the top 20. Long story short, while putting will help, players with good approach games will win this week, like most weeks.
Fairways will be easy to hit as there are few obstacles in the way. Tournament heads have said they let the rough grow longer this week for the Rocket Mortgage Classic, but that shouldn’t change the outcome much. Targeting golfers who perform well on easy scoring tracks is a must. Most weeks, I say take a look at golfers who perform better on a certain type of green. Last year though the type of green didn’t seem to matter much (small sample size).
Here are the top golfers over the last 24 rounds who have performed well with all three conditions combined.
Player Fit
The Rocket Mortgage Classic has four par 5, which previous tournaments were lacking. Coincidentally three of the four are the three easiest holes ranging from 550 – 600 yards. On the flip side four of the seven toughest holes are par 4 from 450 – 500 yards. As it was mentioned earlier, the approach game will be key with an emphasis on proximity from 125 – 150 & 200+ yards.
While ball striking is usually king, strokes gained approach reigns supreme this week. Now I won’t scuff at golfers who do perform well of the tee but it’s the irons that will take down the trophy.
Last week was a scoring fest compared to previous weeks. I may have gone too heavy on pure scores and not give credit to those that avoid the bogey. This week’s scoring will be ramp’d up even more but I’m not going to make the same mistake again. With opportunity gained and birdie or better, bogey avoidance will be present in the models.
Here are the top golfers in the field at the Rocket Mortgage Classic that have performed well with all these metrics combined.
Final Recap for the Rocket Mortgage Classic
A drastic difference in both field strength and course layout since the reboot. Length, par 5, course scoring and defenses are all different. On top of all that, there has only been one year’s worth of data to stack against. Last year’s winner was 25 under par. While that score may not hit again, I wouldn’t be surprised to see scores flirt with high teens or low twenties.
Course Setup
Easy scoring
Easy to hit fairways
Bentgrass greens
Player Efficiencies
Par 5 scoring: 550 – 600 yards
Par 4 scoring: 450 – 500 yards
Proximity: 125 – 150 & 200+ yards
Opportunity Gained
Birdie or better
Bogey Avoidance
DK Scoring
SG: Putting
SG: Approach
Green in regulation
Thanks for reading and I hope this article is a great starting place for your DFS research for the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Look out for the Insight Sheet dropping Wednesday. It will include my personal player pool and reasoning why each golfer was chosen. Also Wednesday night you can find me in the Win Daily Discord helping members with their lineups and last-minute questions.
Stat Source: Fantasy National GC
