Preview
2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic Tips
You can sign up for all our Rocket Mortgage Classic picks and PGA Tour tips for 2023 by clicking the button below.
Event Info
Starts: 29th June 2023
Course: Detroit Golf Club
Par: 72
Length: 7,370 yards
2022 Champion: Tony Finau
Course Info
Designer: Donald Ross
Used Since: 2019
Fairways: Generous
Greens: Bentgrass/Poa Annua
Water Hazards: On 1 hole
Par 5's: 4th, 7th, 14th and 17th
Premium on: Putting
Significant Info
This is the flattest course on the PGA Tour. Fairways are also easy to find with driving accuracy percentages around 5% higher than average.
Weather
Thursday
Sunny with a max wind speed of 10mph.
Friday
Light rain showers with a max wind speed of 12mph.
Saturday
Thunderstorms possible with a max wind speed of 13mph.
Sunday
Light rain with a max wind speed of 10mph.
Rocket Mortgage Classic Trends
Winning Score
Tony Finau won with a score of -26 last year. Cameron Davis won with a score of -18 in 2021. We saw winning scores of -25 and -23 the previous two years, expect low scoring again.
Course Form
Tony Finau had only played the event once before, finishing 53rd in 2020.
Cameron Davis had missed both cuts before his win in 2021. Joint runners up that year, Troy Merritt and Joaquin Niemann, did have course form, having previously placed 8th and 5th at Detroit GC.
In 2020, none of the top 7 had recorded a top 40 finish at the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic. You can play well here without having played here before.
Recent Form
Finau won the 3M Open immediately before his win at the Rocket Mortgage. Davis had missed his last cut and didn't have a top 10 since February when winning in 2021. Joint runners up that year, Merritt and Niemann, weren't in sparling form either but had been making cuts. The two prior winners of this event both posted a top 30 finish in their previous start.
World Ranking
Finau was world number 16 before his win. Davis ranked 130th, 2020 champion Bryson DeChambeau ranked 10th in the world. In contrast, 2019 champion, Nate Lashley, ranked 346th.
Nationality
Americans have won three events and an Australian once.
Correlating Courses
None of note but other Donald Ross courses are worth considering.
Rocket Mortgage Classic Stats Analysis
SG: Off The Tee
Looking at the four course winners, Finau ranked 2nd, Davis ranked 34th in 2021, DeChambeau ranked 1st in 2020, whilst Lashley ranked 55th in 2019.
Driving Accuracy
Finau ranked 3rd, Davis ranked 59th, DeChambeau ranked 102nd and Lashley ranked 25th.
Driving Distance
Finau ranked 34th, Davis ranked 10th, DeChambeau ranked 1st and Lashley 101st.
SG: Approach
Finau ranked 6th, Davis ranked 9th. Rankings for the 2020 and 2019 champions were 84th and 7th.
Greens In Regulation
Finau ranked 1st, Davis ranked 41st. Both winners prior to that ranked in the top 25 in this category (22nd and 6th).
SG: Around The Green
Finau ranked 9th, Davis ranked 5th. Both winners prior to that ranked in the top 50 in this category (47th and 26th).
SG: Putting
Finau ranked 15th, Davis ranked 22nd but a hot putter is helpful, both winners prior to that ranked 2nd SG: Putting.
Rocket Mortgage Classic In Play Advice
Tough Holes
The 18th and 11th holes generally play as the hardest holes on the course.
Birdie Holes
The par 5's (4th, 7th, 14th and 17th), along with the 3rd hole play as the easiest holes.
Fast or Slow Start
Last year Tony Finau and Taylor Pendrith were joint leaders after the opening round and they would go on to finish first and second on the 72 hole leaderboard. In 2021, six of the eventual top seven shot 68 or better in round one. In 2020, eight of the top 11 shot 68 or better in the opening round. In 2019, only one of the top 10 failed to shoot a 68 or better in the opening round.
All four winners of this event have been inside the top 10 at halfway and the top three after 54 holes.
Previous Rocket Mortgage Classic Previews and Blogs
2022
2021
2020
2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic Tips
You can sign up for all our Rocket Mortgage Classic picks and PGA Tour tips for 2023 by clicking the button below.
In-play
2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic In-Play Blog
2nd July 2023, 8:50am (UK time)
Player | Total |
Fowler |
-20 |
Hadwin |
-19 |
Pendrith |
-18 |
Kuest |
-17 |
Rai |
-17 |
Five players tied |
-16 |
2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic Round 3 Summary
Rickie Fowler snatchedthe lead off Adam Hadwin with six birdies in his last eight holes. The young Sweedish superstar Ludvig Aberg had a disaster finish, playing his last six holes in four over par to drop out of contention.
Notable Round 3 Rocket Mortgage Classic Quotes
"Whether it happens tomorrow or not, it's going to happen here soon. I'm not pressing that, hey, I need to go get it done tomorrow or it means absolutely nothing. I've been playing a lot of really good golf and been putting myself in good positions. This definitely won't be the last, but yeah, it will be fun tomorrow. ." Rickie Fowler
" Just go out there and play hard and see what happens. I've never won before, but to be in the final group with a chance to win would be really cool. Yeah, stay patient and enjoy the day." Taylor Pendrith
" I kept the ball in play, started hitting my driver pretty well there towards the end, hit a few more fairways, took advantage of the par 5s, snuck in a long one on 10. Then yeah, just -- I didn't feel like I did anything crazy, just good solid golf, lots of fairways and greens and made a few putts." Adam Hadwin
2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic Round 4 Weather
Possible thunderstorms (max wind 8mph in the afternoon)
Back or Fade The Favourite?
Rickie Fowler is now odds on at 10/11 and it's still not a backable price in our opinion. Despite showing unbelievable consistency on tour this season, Fowler has yet to show his best stuff under the gun and is still chasing that first win since 2019. It's a similar story for Adam Hadwin, who hasn't won since the 2017 Valspar.
In Fowler's favour is the calibre of the chasers within three of the lead and we would be less inclined to fade him with Moore and Morikawa dropping to four shots back, but it looks like a price to leave alone now.
In-Play Rocket Mortgage Classic Bets We Considered
We were tempted to back Taylor Moore to bounce back from yesterday's disappointment, priced up at 28/1 today. Moore won impressively at Valspar earlier this year from off the pace and also finished strong here last year with a 66. We preferred one other price in the end.
1st July 2023, 8:30am (UK time)
Player | Total |
Moore |
-13 |
Pendrith |
-13 |
Fowler |
-12 |
Aberg |
-12 |
Four players tied |
-11 |
2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic Round 2 Summary
It's a tale of two Taylors at the halfway point of the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic. Moore and Pendrith coming from opposite sides of the draw to share the lead at halfway.
Notable Round 2 Rocket Mortgage Classic Quotes
"Golf's just such a finicky game. I really haven't felt like I've been that far off and haven't made a cut in a couple weeks. Having that win under my belt, like you said, just patience and just realizing my game's good enough and I'm good enough to not only compete out here but hoist a trophy on Sunday. So just having that mentality in the back of my mind whenever I put the tee in the ground's been big." Taylor Moore
"I think it's a combination of this is the same type of grass I grew up on, same type of greens, old-school layout, a lot of drivers. Yeah, I don't know, I really like this place and feel good with everything." Taylor Pendrith
"I think I've heard some interviews with Scottie where he says winning is a skill, and he's very right about that. It is a little bit different to playing with a lead, playing right under the lead. I've been fortunate enough to be in that position a lot this year in college, so I felt like I got better at that as the season went on. I'm looking forward to have those same nerves here, which is going to be a little bit different, but I also think just being OK that it is a little bit different is going to help me a little bit." Ludvig Aberg
2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic Round 3 Weather
Possible thunderstorms (max wind 9mph in the afternoon)
Back or Fade The Favourite?
Rickie Fowler is 4/1 favourite. Third in the SG: Tee to Green stats so far this week, Fowler is continuing his fine run of form which has seen him post four consecutive top 15 finishes.
However, there are 14 players within three shots of the lead, half of whom are PGA Tour winners. We anticipate Fowler will go close this weekend but crossing the finishing line has never been one of his strengths and the 4/1 is too short in our opinion. We'd be looking to fade the popular American.
In-Play Rocket Mortgage Classic Bets We Considered
All four winners of this event have been inside the top 10 at halfway so we aren't looking much past the group at 10 under par and certainly not past the group at nine under par.
The 40/1 available for Adam Hadwin with Skybet certainly stands out but that is a price that is unlikely to last long. However, we're rolling the dice on a player who is a bigger price in the betting.
Rocket Mortgage Classic Round 3 Bets
Want to know which bets we went with? You can sign up for all our PGA Tour tips for 2023 by clicking the button below.
30th June 2023, 10:30am (UK time)
Player | Total |
Moore |
-8 |
Kuest |
-8 |
Seven players tied |
-7 |
2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic Round 1 Summary
As expected, low scoring was the order of the day. A soft course after weekend storms meant 106 players broke par in the opening round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Taylor Moore (PM starter) and Peter Kuest (AM starter) share the lead on eight under par.
Notable Round 1 Rocket Mortgage Classic Quotes
"Had a good week here last year. With the current state of my game I've kind of been stuck in neutral, so this has been really good for me to see. I felt like I've been really, really close and obviously was just stoked to see some putts go in and post a good number" Taylor Moore
"I've struggled on the weekend a little bit. It's tough to put four good rounds together. I just need some more experience playing the weekends. I've been doing a better job at resting my body. Some of the bad scores on the weekends have been from my body just giving out. Hopefully in the offseason I can do some work to get my legs a little stronger. Yeah, it's great, the experience I'm able to get. Being able to take advantage of the opportunities has been nice." Sam Bennett
"We had a couple different seasons out there I feel like with the weather today. It was like dead calm and then started getting windy and then some rain. It's just kind of be at the mercy of the course and the conditions. Yeah, it was a good start." Sam Ryder
"I don't think I'm hitting it well until today, until this week really. There were -- like the good shots were good, the good shots were just as good, but the misses were worse. That's the problem, the misses were just in spots I never would have put myself, just blind luck over there trying to make up and down. So that's what it goes out to is just really hitting a little more quality shots, the misses are a little bit better and you just play from there. Like I said today, it was an easy 6 under, it could have been a lot lower, but that's kind of what I want, how my game should be really." Collin Morikawa
2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic Round 2 Weather
Sunny intervals (max wind 10mph in the afternoon)
Back or Fade The Favourite?
Collin Morikawa is the 8/1 favourite but it's a clustered leaderboard and we don't see the need to dive into backing a short odds selection.
Morikawa indicated in his post round interview that he had only just found his game and we'd like to see a little more evidence of that before we considered him as a backable option.
In-Play Rocket Mortgage Classic Bets We Considered
Trey Mullinax is someone we will certainly be keeping a close eye on when he tees off for round two. Odds of 100/1 are very attractive but he has an afternoon tee time and we'd prefer to keep a watching brief to see if the wind picks up for the later starters.
Those of you with Unibet/Bet Rivers access could do worse than taking evens on Ludvig Aberg beating Luke Donald and Danny Willett in their three ball. Aberg won this grouping convincingly in round one and is as short as 4/5 with some other bookmakers to win today.
Rocket Mortgage Classic Round 2 Bets
Want to know which bets we went with? You can sign up for all our PGA Tour tips for 2023 by clicking the button below.