Written by The Dominator
Let’s move on to the next event on the 2020 PGA Tour schedule. That event is the Rocket Mortgage Classic, which will take place at the Detroit Golf Club in Michigan. Last week, we saw Dustin Johnson break out of his early-season doldrums to capture the Travelers Championship by one stroke over Kevin Streelman. I had Bryson Dechambeau winning that tournament but that didn’t happen. Still, I did hit a nice prop at +240 as I had the winning outcome being by one stroke. Something to keep in mind for next year’s Travelers Championship, 13 of the last 17 have now been decided by one stroke. I also had Bryson beating Rory in a head-to-head matchup. My other three props were not so good. Let’s see if we can do better this week.
There is not much to go on with this event as it was first played last year. Nate Lashley won the event with a -25 under par. He won by six strokes. The course at Detroit Golf Club is a long one that measures 7334 yards. The par fives should be fun to watch as all four of them are long. All of the par fives measure at least 552 yards with the 4th hole being 635 yards. This is a course that will play to the long hitters and we do have a few in this event. The one thing we do not have, are many top 20 players. This is not a loaded field, but hell, it’s live golf and after seeing the winner post a -25 last year we could see a lot of low scores.
Rocket Mortgage Classic Favorites: Odds are Courtesy Of Lines & Odds.
Bryson DeChambeau | +650 |
Webb Simpson | +1100 |
Tyrrell Hatton | +1200 |
Patrick Reed | +1400 |
Hideki Matsuyama | +1800 |
Sungjae Im | +2000 |
Viktor Hovland | +2000 |
Tony Finau | +2500 |
Rickie Fowler | +2800 |
Kevin Na | +3300 |
Scottie Scheffler | +3300 |
Players To Watch
I will go through a few players that I feel have a shot at winning this tournament, before giving you my full pick, along with some props. Bryson DeChambeau is the favorite of this event and by a big margin as you can see from the odds list above. DeChambeau was right in the think of things last week, but a ball in the water on the 13th pretty much did him in. He ended up finishing four strokes off the lead and in a tie for 6th place. This course sets up very well for Bryson, who is 2nd on tour in driving distance. He is also 9th in greens in regulation, 3rd in scoring average, and 5th in sand save percentage. DeChambeau will be able to let it fly, especially on those long par fives. He has no wins this year but has seven Top Ten finishes in 10 events so far. Will this be the tournament that he finally breaks through with a win this year? We shall see.
Webb Simpson pulled out of last week’s tournament, a day before it was to take place after finding out that one of his family members tested positive for COVID-19. In his last tournament (two weeks ago), Simpson won tye RBC Heritage. It was his 2nd win of the year and he now has five Top 10s in seven events so far. Webb is ranked 5th in the world overall and 1st in FedEx Points. He is just one of six players in the Top 20 in the world to be entered in this event. Simpson is 4th in approach to the green, 12th in greens in regulation but just 104th in driving distance. Still, he is also 4th in putting and that could be a big advantage for him here. Can Simpson win his 3rd tournament of the year? You’ll have to keep reading to find out.
Patrick Reed is getting some love from the pundits around the internet. He is ranked 7th in the world and 5th in FedEx Cup points. He has one win and five Top 10 finishes in 11 events this year. He missed the cut at the RBC Heritage and then finished tied for 24th last week so he is not really playing all that well. Prior to his last two events, he did have three Top 15 finishes in a row, including a win. Reed ranks just 138th in driving distance and 163rd in greens in regulation, but he also is 27th in sand save percentage, 4th in putting and 32nd in tee to green. Reed also finished tied for 5th last year here with a score of -17. Can reed pull it off this week? That remains to be seen.
Tyrrell Hatton has four Top 10 in five events this year, which includes one win. He ha splayed in one event since the restart (RBC Heritage) and finished 3rd in that event. Hatton ranks 82nd on tour in driving distance, 10th in greens in regulation, 1st in approach to the green, 1st in tee-to-green, and 2nd in putting. Very strong numbers overall and this could be a nice course for him. Last week, I stayed away from Sungjae Im but he will be one to watch this week. He has struggled the last two weeks but before that, he had three Top 10s in a row. This could be a bounce-back event for him and he is 55th in driving distance, 22nd in tee-to-green, and 21st in sand save percentage.
The last one I will look at is Tony Finau, who could be a nice longshot at +2500. I have liked Finau for a few years now. He is normally very consistent this year but hasn’t played great since the restart. He finished 23rd, 33rd, and missed the cut in his last three events. Still, I give him a shot here. Finau comes in ranked 32nd on tour in driving distance, so he should be able to have great success on the par fives. He is also 30th in greens in regulation, 6th around the green, and 8th in tee-to-green. He may not win the tournament but I will look for Finau to be in the running until the end.
Predictions
Tournament Winner: I have to go with the favorite, Bryson DeChambeau (+650) in this one. He is a power hitter off the tee and you need that for this course. He is also excellent in greens in regulation, and save percentage. DeChambeau has seven top 10 finishes in 10 events this year so he has been one of the most consistent players on tour. He hasn’t won a tournament yet this season but I will look for him to breakthrough here.
Props
Top Five Finishes - Tony Finau (+600) & Patrick Reed (+350)
Tournament Matchup - Sungjae Im -1.5 shots (+100) over Ricky Fowler
Tournament Matchup - Patrick Reed -115 over Hideki Matsuyama
Some Info Gleaned From PGATour.com