PGA TOURLeaderboardWatch & ListenNewsFedExCupSchedulePlayersStatsFantasy & BettingSignature EventsComcast Business TOUR TOP 10Aon Better DecisionsDP World Tour Eligibility RankingsHow It WorksPGA TOUR TrainingTicketsShopPGA TOURPGA TOUR ChampionsKorn Ferry TourPGA TOUR AmericasLPGA TOURDP World TourPGA TOUR University
Archive

The First Look: Rickie Fowler aims to repeat at Rocket Mortgage Classic

6 Min Read

The First Look

Loading...


    Written by Adam Stanley @Adam_Stanley

    With the FedExCup Playoffs and Presidents Cup drawing ever closer, the PGA TOUR returns this week to the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit.

    Plenty of big-name stars are set to tee it up, plus some promising young players fresh out of college, still in college, or even still in high school.

    And of course, who could forget the epic three-man playoff last year – which led to Rickie Fowler’s first TOUR title since 2019.

    Here’s everything you need to know about the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

    FIELD NOTES: Rickie Fowler returns to defend his title after breaking his win drought last year. He would be the first back-to-back winner in the tournament’s short history… Cameron Young, who shot 59 at the Travelers Championship, heads back to Detroit for the first time since 2022 when he finished runner-up… Michael Thorbjornsen will make his second start as a pro after debuting at the Travelers Championship (T39). He finished atop the PGA TOUR University ranking in May (thereby earning PGA TOUR membership for the remainder of the 2024 and 2025 season) after four celebrated seasons at Stanford… Tom Kim is back in action after falling to Scottie Scheffler in a playoff at the Travelers. Kim missed the cut last year in Detroit but was T7 the year prior. He has two top 10s in his last four starts… Will Zalatoris will play in Detroit, having made the cut in his two previous starts there. Has found some consistency after back surgery last year, having made 11 of 15 cuts this season… Min Woo Lee continues his run to the Presidents Cup team. Lee has made 11 of 12 cuts this season and comes into the week off a T21 at the U.S. Open. This is his debut at Detroit Golf Club… Other notable in-season winners to tee it up this week include Jake Knapp, Nick Dunlap, Akshay Bhatia, Stephan Jaeger and Taylor Pendrith (T14-2 in his two starts at Detroit Golf Club).

    HIGHEST-RANKED PLAYERS IN THE FIELD
    World RankingFedExCup
    16. Tom Kim15. Akshay Bhatia
    23. Cameron Young22. Chris Kirk
    29. Akshay Bhatia23. Stephan Jaeger
    33. Chris Kirk30. Taylor Pendrith
    36. Min Woo Lee34. Cameron Young
    41. Stephan Jaeger37. Robert MacIntyre
    42. Will Zalatoris38. Will Zalatoris
    44. Robert MacIntyre39. Tom Kim
    45. Nicolai Højgaard45. Jake Knapp
    50. Rickie Fowler46. Alex Noren

    SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS: Next-generation stars in the field include Miles Russell, 15, the youngest golfer to make a cut on the Korn Ferry Tour. He’s making his PGA TOUR debut. Russell won both the Junior PGA Championship and the Junior PLAYERS Championship last year and was the youngest player to ever be named the American Junior Golf Association’s Player of the Year. (Tiger Woods is the only other player to win the award before turning 16.) Russell made the cut at this season’s LECOM Suncoast Classic before finishing tied for 20th… Auburn star Jackson Koivun just became the first player ever to sweep college golf’s three national player of the year awards – the Haskins, the Hogan and the Nicklaus – and the Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman award in the same season. He finished runner-up at the NCAA Championship and made his first PGA TOUR start at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday. He has 16 PGA TOUR University accelerated points (20 gets a PGA TOUR card) and is second in the World Amateur Golf Ranking… Neal Shipley will make his non-major PGA TOUR debut. He is just the sixth player to win low amateur at both the Masters and the U.S. Open and made his pro debut on PGA TOUR Americas last week, tying for ninth at The Beachlands Victoria Open… Luke Clanton, who narrowly lost to Shipley for low amateur at the U.S. Open, is also in the field in Detroit. Clanton is the world’s fifth-ranked amateur and authored the best season in Florida State history en route to helping the squad reach the NCAA Championship final. He won three straight tournaments, was a finalist for all the major awards and set the school’s single-season scoring record… Ben James, the fourth-ranked amateur in the world, was named NCAA Outstanding Freshman of the Year in 2023 after a five-win campaign at the University of Virginia… Willie Mack III shot rounds of 63-74 to capture the John Shippen Invitational and earn a spot in the field. This will be the second PGA TOUR event this season for Mack (U.S. Open) and his ninth PGA TOUR start. The John Shippen Invitational is a two-day, 36-hole qualifier featuring the nation’s top Black professional and amateur golfers… Jason Dufner and Jimmy Walker also received sponsor invites.

    SIGNATURE EVENT STORYLINES: Last week’s Travelers Championship marked the final Signature Event on the PGA TOUR schedule… This season's Signature Event winners were Chris Kirk (The Sentry), Wyndham Clark (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am), Hideki Matsuyama (Genesis Invitational), Rory McIlroy (Wells Fargo Championship) and, of course, Scottie Scheffler, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, THE PLAYERS Championship, the RBC Heritage, the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday and the Travelers Championship.

    COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10: After his win at the Travelers – his sixth of the season – Scottie Scheffler continued his dominance in the TOUR TOP 10… The rest of the 10 remained unchanged, but Wyndham Clark and Ludvig Åberg swapped spots, as did Hideki Matsuyama and Sahith Theegala and Patrick Cantlay and Byeong Hun An… Despite withdrawing due to illness at the Travelers, An is still the only golfer all season to be inside the TOUR TOP 10 every week.

    FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points.

    COURSE: Detroit Golf Club (North Course), par 72, 7,370 yards (yardage subject to change). The Donald Ross design dates to 1906 and was updated for the TOUR’s initial arrival in 2019.

    The South Course’s first hole is used as the third hole for the tournament. The club is set to undergo a renovation, starting with the North Course, after the completion of next year’s Rocket Mortgage Classic. Every aspect of the layout will be updated, including the drainage and irrigation system.

    72-HOLE RECORD: 262, Tony Finau (2022)

    18-HOLE RECORD: 63, Nate Lashley (2019, first round), J.T. Poston (2019, second round), Davis Thompson (2021, first round), Cameron Young (2022, second round), Tom Kim (2022, fourth round), Adam Hadwin (2023, third round), Stephan Jaeger (2023, fourth round), Andrew Landry (2023, second round).

    LAST TIME: Rickie Fowler broke a four-year win drought, defeating Adam Hadwin and Collin Morikawa in a playoff. Morikawa fired a final-round 64 (and missed a 16-footer for birdie on the 72nd hole) while Hadwin backed up his tournament-scoring record 63 Saturday with a 5-under 67 to close. Fowler rifled his approach shot on No. 18 to just three feet to make a closing birdie from 12 feet and finish at 24 under. The playoff lasted just one hole with Fowler making birdie to end it.

    How to follow:

    Television:

    • Thursday-Friday: 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel).
    • Saturday-Sunday: 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (CBS)

    PGA TOUR Live:

    ThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday
    Stream 1Main feed: 6:45 a.m.-3 p.m.Main feed: 6:45 a.m.-3 p.m.Main feed: 7 a.m.-1 p.m.Main feed: 7 a.m.-1 p.m.
    Featured group: 3-6 p.m.Featured group: 3-6 p.m.Featured group: 1-6 p.m.Featured group: 1-6 p.m.
    Stream 2Marquee: 7:45 a.m.-3 p.m.Marquee: 7:45 a.m.-3 p.m.Marquee: 8 a.m.-1 p.m.Marquee: 8 a.m.-1 p.m.
    Featured group: 3-6 p.m.Featured group: 3-6 p.m.Featured group: 1-6 p.m.Featured group: 1-6 p.m.
    Stream 3Featured groups: 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m.Featured groups: 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m.Featured groups: 7:45 a.m.-1 p.m.Featured groups: 7:45 a.m.-1 p.m.
    Featured hole: 3-6 p.m.Featured hole: 3-6 p.m.Featured hole: 1-6 p.m.Featured hole: 1-6 p.m.
    Spanish-language main feedFeatured holes: 6:45 a.m.-3 p.m.Featured holes: 6:45 a.m.-3 p.m.Featured holes: 7 a.m.-1 p.m.Featured holes: 7 a.m.-1 p.m.
    Featured group: 3-6 p.m.Featured group: 3-6 p.m.Featured group: 1-6 p.m.Featured group: 1-6 p.m.

    PGA TOUR Live is available exclusively on ESPN+

    • Main feed: Primary tournament-coverage featuring the best action from across the course
    • Marquee group: New “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group
    • Featured groups: Traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups
    • Featured holes: Combination of par3s and iconic or pivotal holes
    • Thursday-Friday: noon-6 p.m.
    • Saturday-Sunday: 1-6 p.m.

    Must reads