After a busy few weeks with two major championships and a handful of designated events, the PGA Tour schedule hits a little bit of a lull until the Open Championship in the middle of July.
That may not sound like a great selling point at the top of a tournament preview, but the money you win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic will be just as green as the money you win at the Masters.
Since most of the game’s elite players are coming off back-to-back events, it’s not surprising that the field for the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club lacks starpower.
Tony Finau is the favorite at +1200, but this thing is wide open with Rickie Fowler (+1400), Justin Thomas (+1600), Hideki Matsuyama (+1600), Max Homa (+1800) and Collin Morikawa (+1800) all under +2000.
Although Nate Lashley won the first iteration of this event at Detroit Golf Club, it seems pretty clear that this course sets up best for players who can hit it a mile.
Bryson DeChambeau won in 2020 when he was at the peak of his powers,
Cam Davis took home the trophy in 2021, and then last year, Tony Finau ran away with the trophy ahead of Cam Young, Patrick Cantlay, and Taylor Pendrith.
All of these players have one thing in common: They can smoke the ball off the tee.
The other thing to keep in mind is that this tournament has been stars and scrubs in its four years of existence.
Lashley was an alternate-entry when he won in 2019 and Cam Davis was 100/1 when he won in 2021, but the other two victors, DeChambeau and Finau, were +600 and +1400, respectively.
After hitting Keegan Bradley at +9000 last week, we’ll continue to focus on the long shots.
2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic picks
Cameron Champ (150/1, BetMGM)
Perhaps it’s too simple, but you can’t ignore Cameron Champ’s driver at this course.
The form is awful — Champ has made just four cuts out of 12 events this year — but that’s not really the point.
This course is easy enough that any player can tear it apart, and backing someone who can bomb and gauge like Champ makes sense at this number.
Champ’s floor is obviously shallow, but he’s won three times on the PGA Tour, so it’s not out of the question that he contends in this field.
Akshay Bhatia (+125/1, PointsBet)
At some point, Akshay Bhatia will break his maiden on the PGA Tour, and it’s likely that it will happen in a field like this.
Bhatia has two top-five finishes this year in events with weak fields, he was the runner-up at the Puerto Rico Open and finished T4 at the Mexico Open, and his current form is not too shabby, with four made-cuts in his last five outings.
Bhatia has proven he’s talented enough to compete in this kind of setup, and it’s likely that these numbers will be a thing of the past for this player pretty soon.
Hopefully, he wins before the price crashes.
Vincent Norrman (+180/1, FanDuel)
It was only a few weeks ago that the betting community had identified Vincent Norrman as a player you wanted to keep an eye on.
Norrman had a handful impressive results — including a T8 at the AT&T Byron Nelson — and had top-20 finishes in Puntacana and Mexico in fields with similar makeups to this one.
But as soon as Norrman started to get hyped, he wilted.
The Swede has missed three consecutive cuts and has seen his odds balloon to near 200/1.
It’s the perfect time to buy back in. Not only is this field beatable, but Norrman is a long-hitter who should enjoy the layout of this course.
If he was worth a shot at half the odds a few weeks ago, he’s certainly worth it now.
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