Tain Lee, Justin Suh lead Rocket Mortgage Classic qualifiers

It took eight extra holes Sunday to decide the winner of the Travelers Championship.

A day later, an eight-hole playoff was necessary to determine the final players in the Rocket Mortgage Classic. A 9-for-3 playoff took place at The Oakland University Golf and Learning Center – Katke Course.

Connor Arendell was medalist and the only qualifier able to avoid the playoff shooting 65 (-6). It was a loaded field with a high-powered mix of PGA TOUR veterans like Ben Martin and Robert Garrigus and young guns like Justin Suh and John Augenstein attempting to gain status in the last stretch of the TOUR season. The qualifiers ended up being a combination of both.

Suh, Tain Lee and Daniel Wetterich, the cousin of former TOUR winner Brett Wetterich, will join Arendell in the Rocket Mortgage Classic after earning their spots in the playoff.

Lee birdied the first extra hole to earn his spot. This is the fourth event he has qualified for this season, including the recent Palmetto Championship at Congaree, where he took the lead early in the third round and started the final round in fourth place. The journeyman, who was a former NCAA Division III champion, finished 14th after a final-round 71.

Dan Wetterich, a former Ohio State standout, was the next player to qualify after he eagled the fourth hole of the playoff, the par-5 18th. Suh, who has had his share of near-misses in Monday qualifiers this year, was the final player to qualify after he birdied the eighth playoff hole, again the 18th, over Jay McLuen’s par.

“I was in a similar playoff in a Korn Ferry Monday qualifier right after the pandemic layoff in Utah," Suh said. "It almost ended the same way as this one. We started with eight guys for a few spots. I remember we played into the late hours of the day, and we couldn’t even see the green. I ended up losing that one to the last guy, and I remember that feeling of how upset we were. Just the feeling of going eight holes in a playoff and then losing is not fun. I definitely had that in mind during this one.”

Suh has earned 206 non-member FedExCup points this season, thanks to six made cuts in nine starts this season, including three top-15s. It should be enough to earn him a spot in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, where he can compete for the chance to join peers Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff on TOUR. A high finish at the Rocket Mortgage could help him earn a card for next season without attending the KFT Finals.

Although his most recent Monday qualifier miss was by four shots last week in Connecticut, he used his time off to work out a few kinks in his swing.

“I went back to Vegas and practiced for a couple of days," Suh said. “I was trying to find something that felt good. I was practicing on the range and course a long time. By the third day of practice, I had just exhausted myself. On the fourth day, I went to the course and went back to understanding where the club face is. It clicked right there, and that is kind of how I play golf. Having that face awareness has freed me up. I was able to focus more on the target. Today, it felt great. I hit some really good iron shots and drives."

Suh is the only Monday qualifier this year to have previously played in the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Although the result was a missed cut in one of his first TOUR events, he feels comfortable on the north course at Detroit Country Club.

“I enjoy this golf course. It’s a Donald Ross, which is the design I grew up on. It’s not that long but you have to hit it pretty straight. I’m excited to be back here,” Suh said.

Qualifiers

Connor Arendell
Age: 31
College: Central Florida
Turned pro: 2011
PGA TOUR starts: 3
Cuts Made: 0
Notes: Arendell will make his third career PGA TOUR start this week. Earned his Korn Ferry Tour card for the 2018 season but failed to retain status. Competed on the European Tour and European Challenge Tour in 2014 and 2015, including three top-3 finishes on the Challenge Tour. Says he would be a mechanic on high-end cars if he was not a professional golfer. Competed in the 2019 U.S. Open. Has one top-25 in 32 career starts on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Justin Suh
Age: 24
College: USC
Turned pro: 2019
PGA TOUR starts: 21
Cuts made: 8
PGA TOUR earnings: $440,283
Notes: Suh will make his 10th start of the 2021 PGA TOUR season after making birdie on the eighth hole of the 9-for-3 playoff. He played four years at USC and was twice first-team All-America and three-time All-Pac 12 selection. Suh holds the USC record for lowest scoring average in a season. He has three top-15s this season: Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship (T14), Shriners Hospitals for Children Open (T8) and Zurich Classic of New Orleans (T11).

Daniel Wetterich
Age: 24
College: Ohio State University
Turned pro: 2019
PGA TOUR starts: 1
Cuts made: 0
Twitter: @WetterichDaniel
Notes: Wetterich will make his second career PGA TOUR start at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. His first came at the Honda Classic, where he missed the cut. His cousin, Brett Wetterich, won the 2006 Byron Nelson and played on that year’s Ryder Cup team. Daniel was in attendance at the 2006 Memorial Tournament presented by Workday to watch Brett finish runner-up, two shots back of Carl Pettersson.

Tain Lee
Age: 31
College: Claremont Mckenna
Turned pro: 2012
PGA TOUR starts: 3
Cuts Made: 3
PGA TOUR earnings: $158,240
Notes: His qualifier success continued Monday in Detroit. He birdied the second playoff hole to make it through. The Rocket Mortgage Classic will be the third PGA TOUR event he has qualified for this season (and his career). He has made the cut in all three PGA TOUR starts this season: Farmers Insurance Open (T69), Valero Texas Open (T59) and Palmetto Championship at Congaree (T14). Was the 2010 NCAA Division III individual champion and Jack Nicklaus Award winner as the Division III player of the year.

Notes

Notables who missed qualifying: Tyler Strafaci, Ben Crane, Robert Garrigus, Quade Cummins, Norman Xiong, Zach Sucher, John Augenstein, Andrew Loupe, Andrew Yun and Taylor Funk.

2020-2021 Monday Qualifier statistics:
Last event’s qualifier result (Travelers Championship): Seamus Power (T19), Lucas Herbert (T19), and Andrew Svoboda (T61), Stephen Stallings Jr. (MC)
Total money earned by Monday qualifiers on TOUR this season: $1,002,323.66
Best finish: M.J. Daffue (T12, Sanderson Farms Championship).
Next Monday Qualifier: John Deere Classic at Oakwood Country Club (Monday, July 5, 2021).