Rocket Mortgage Classic Preview

For the third week in succession an American heavyweight has claimed PGA Tour honours, with Dustin Johnson returning to the winner’s circle for the 13th successive season and for the first time since the WGC Mexico Championship in 2019. Often maligned for his tendency to throw away winning positions in majors, it’s testament to his remarkable consistency that he has never gone longer than thirty PGA tour events without winning in his entire career. The continuation of that streak puts him in illustrious company with only Arnold Palmer (17), Jack Nicklaus (17) and one Tiger Woods (14) having at least one win in more consecutive seasons. Whether he wins another major or not, that record is well within his sights.

After some thrilling final rounds the last three weeks with star-studded fields, the tour returns to more modest surroundings this week with the second edition of the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club. With many of the game’s big guns choosing to take this week off, this gives a chance for some of the lesser-known names to get their season back on track with last time out winner Webb Simpson the highest ranked player in the field having chosen to skip the Travelers over fears that members of his family had shown symptoms of coronavirus. On the face of it, last year’s renewal appeared to be a pretty straightforward victory for the previously unheralded Nate Lashley who gained his first PGA Tour win at this event by six shots over Doc Redman, but his tragic back story made it one of the most uplifting moments of last season. In 2004, Lashley’s parents and college girlfriend were killed in a plane crash on their way home from watching him play a tournament and he found himself in the golfing wilderness for many years afterwards before finally making it onto the PGA Tour and that emotional breakthrough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymwQXJYNYG8

What will it take to win here?

As opposed to the last three events we have seen since the return of golf which have all been firmly established on the schedule, this tournament is in its relative infancy with this being only our second look at Detroit Golf Club. As a consequence, it’s difficult to draw any firm conclusions about what type of player will be suited by the test it provides. What we do know is it’s a par 72 measuring 7,340 yards which makes it the longest course off the tee of the tournaments to have come back so far, but driving was the category in which Lashley performed worst in on his way to a runaway victory last year suggesting neither distance or accuracy will be pivotal. Not one of last year’s top 10 ranked inside the top 10 for driving distance on the week with only two of those finishing inside the top 10 for accuracy off the tee. Although it’s heavily tree-lined, last year the pros took it apart with Lashley’s winning score of -25 suggesting low scoring will be needed to contend. Lashley finished only 29th for strokes gained off the tee last year but put on a tour de force from there on in finishing 6th for SG approach, 13th for SG around the green and 2nd for SG putting. A combination of accurate ironplay and a decent short game appeared to be the key to success last year which makes sense given the small greens which are a signature of Donald Ross designs. Reading too much into one year’s worth of data can be a dangerous strategy though when trying to discover what will be required to win here and one aspect worth exploring can be correlating courses designed by the same architect. It’s intuitive that some players regularly perform well on courses which share similar features that suit their game so other Donald Ross designed courses that feature regularly on the PGA Tour could provide some clues towards those that will contend this week. Among those are Sedgefield CC, which is the regular host of the Wyndham Championship and usually attracts a similar level of field, and to a lesser extent East Lake, which as the home of the Tour Championship retains an element of exclusivity in that the majority of players in this field are unlikely to have played there.

The Field

As mentioned previously, this is very much a step down in quality from what we have seen over the last few weeks and many of the participants will be unknown to irregular viewers. Only five of the world’s top 20 are in action and they come here in varying degrees of form. Webb Simpson comes here off the back of a win at the RBC Heritage last time where he played some superb golf on the back nine but the exertions of that victory and a stressful week emotionally last week may not be the ideal preparation coming into this week, for all that the course should suit him well. It appeared that the three week stretch of the “new normal” had taken its toll more than it usually would on most players with Bryson DeChambeau the only member of last week’s top 10 to have made all three cuts since the resumption. He is arguably the most in form player in the world right now as he continues to adjust to his new frame and this represents a guilt edge opportunity for Bryson to outmuscle the field if he’s not still feeling the effects of three consecutive weeks in the heat of the battle. Patrick Reed, Tony Finau and Tyrrell Hatton round out the other members of the world’s top 20 playing this week, with Hatton playing the best of the trio having contended at the RBC Heritage after breaking his PGA Tour duck at the Arnold Palmer earlier this year. It’s been a solid if not spectacular return for Reed having had a top 10 at the Charles Schwab Challenge and Finau, having still not added to his sole PGA Tour success at the Puerto Rico Open in 2016, is still trying to find his best after a missed cut last week. Rickie Fowler is probably the most high profile of all those playing this week but has been struggling badly of late, dropping to 31st in the world rankings having switched coaches towards the end of last season and while it’s always dangerous to write off a player of his quality who’s won as recently as last season, it’s hard to know what to expect this week. Of the rest, Brandt Snedeker is among the more interesting contenders having won the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield in 2018 and finished in the top five here last year with his prolific putting well suited to the birdie-fest he’s likely to encounter here as well as JT Poston, who broke his PGA Tour duck at the Wyndham last year and had two top 10s prior to missing the cut at the Travelers last week. He ranks 36th in SG around the green and 7th in SG putting for the season which should put him in good stead around Detroit Golf Club.

Irish Interest

Last week was particularly tough for our Irish contingent with Graeme McDowell’s caddy Ken Comboy testing positive for COVID-19 as well as Brook’s Koepka’s Northern Irish caddy Rickie Elliott. That led to GMac having to pull out and understandably remains in quarantine this week, while McIlroy and Lowry have chosen to take this week off having played all three events so far. We are represented this week however by Waterford’s Seamus Power, who’d been unable to get a spot in any of the fields so far due to his limited PGA Tour status having not reached the playoffs last season. For those who don’t recognise him, Seamus (pronounced SHAY-muss as his PGA Tour profile reliably informs us) has been on the PGA Tour since 2017 having previously attended East Tennessee University and spent two years on the Korn Ferry Tour before getting his card, his second season capped by winning on that tour in 2016. It’s been a bit of a struggle so far for him this year however, with four missed cuts from seven starts and a best finish of 31st at the Bermuda Championship last year, but the strength of his game is very much his chipping and putting so he will be looking to capitalise on the opportunity given to him this week. So far this season he ranks 33rd for SG around the green and 62nd for SG putting so given he’s performing better than average in both categories, some improvement in his long game could lead to a good week. He is coming off the back of two missed cuts on the lesser Korn Ferry Tour events he’s played since the lockdown was lifted, so an improved performance here is badly needed to kickstart his season.

Rising Stars

With a lot of the bigger names missing this week, it should give us more of a chance to see some of the young talent in the field. One to watch out for this week is Sahith Theegala, who makes his first professional start here on a sponsor’s exemption having had his amateur career cut short by the pandemic. Theegala was the number one ranked amateur in the world prior to the Lockdown and was this year’s recipient of the prestigious Fred Haskins award which is given to best collegiate golfer in the US. His amateur career didn’t go perfectly smoothly having been forced into surgery after a wrist surgery in 2019 but made up for that by winning twice on the amateur circuit this year and was poised for a big summer in that sphere but has chosen to turn professional early with the season ending abruptly. He’s only had two previous PGA Tour starts having missed the cut at the US Open in 2017 but showed glimpses of his future capabilities at the Genesis Open that same year with a first round 67 at one of the most demanding courses on tour before finishing tied 49th.

Another to note is Norwegian Victor Hovland, who looks the most exciting young European prospect in the world of golf at present. Hovland has already announced himself on the biggest stage with a number of good finishes last season continuing into this year, capped off by his first win at the Puerto Rico in February. He’s also shown he is world class tee to green, with some mammoth driving courtesy of a unique swing in spite of his stature and some brilliant ball striking currently leaving him 11th for SG off the tee and 12th for SG approach this year. His achilles heal is very much his short game, with his chipping currently letting him down badly as he loses almost half a stroke around the greens and his putting not much better. Despite what some might say, quality ball striking from tee to green is the real recipe for success at golf’s highest level and Hovland will continue to give himself loads of chances to win while he figures out his short-game failings. When he does, he has the potential to take the golf world by storm and will be a serious weapon for Europe in Ryder Cups for years to come.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbAfNKL0R1E