Three selections in the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Course
Rocket ClassicSee All Odds
Detroit Golf Club has spent seven years as one of the softest touches on the PGA TOUR calendar, a bomb-and-gouge playground where wayward drives went largely unpunished and putting decided everything.
That course no longer exists. A full Donald Ross restoration has reshaped the bunkering, rebuilt the greens, and - most tellingly - converted two of the old par 5s into brutal 500-plus-yard par 4s, dropping the card to a par 70. The days of a routine 20-under winning score might be over.
The historical formula - find the longest hitters, ignore accuracy, lean hard on hot putters - was built on a course with no real teeth. Detroit now has repositioned bunkers pinching landing areas, reintroduced strategic angles off the tee, and greens with far more internal contour than the flat, circular surfaces players grew used to.
Distance definitely still matters, particularly on a scorecard that now carries four 500-yard-plus par 4s, but the premium on precise long-iron play into firmer, more demanding greens is new territory for this event. Treat the last seven years of course history with real caution.
Putting remains the heartbeat of this tournament, restoration or not. This is still a Ross design at its core, and like East Lake or Sedgefield, success here has always come down to the flatstick on subtly sloped, back-to-front greens.
If anything, the added contour from the rebuild raises the ceiling for elite putters and the floor for poor ones - this was never a course where a cold putter suddenly caught fire, and that trend has no reason to reverse. Prioritize proven form on Bent-Poa surfaces and in the clutch 5-10 foot range over the field.
Don't discount the wedge game either. Even with two par 5s gone, the composite routing still leaves a meaningful share of approaches from inside 150 yards.
Rocket Classic Tips
- William Mouw at 100/1 (Ten Places) - 1pt ew
- Davis Thompson at 50/1 (Eight Places) - 1pt EW
- Emiliano Grillo at 80/1 (Ten Places) - 1pt EW
William Mouw at 100/1 (Ten Places) - 1pt ew
We backed William Mouw last week at almost half this price and, despite a dreadful week on the greens, I am willing to take another chance on him here at a huge price in the hope that something clicks with the putter. His missed cut at the 3M Open last week ended what had been his best run of the season since finishing sixth at the Cognizant Classic and 24th at THE PLAYERS the following week back in March.
Finishes of T20-T65 (U.S. Open)-T26-T10 prior to that missed cut were built on excellent iron play, with approach rankings of 24th, 10th and third across that stretch. He continued to strike the ball very well at the 3M Open, ranking 22nd in Round 1 and 12th in Round 2 for approach.
If he were arriving with strong putting form, he would be one of the first names on my list this week. He ranks fifth in this field for approach play over the last five tournaments and possesses the length and control off the tee to take advantage of the benefits of power around this course while still navigating the additional trouble introduced by the recent renovations.
His tied-34th finish here on debut last year is another positive, particularly as he ranked fourth off the tee for the week.
The obvious concern is the putter, but there are at least some encouraging signs when you dig into the recent numbers. He ranked third for putting in Round 2 of the U.S. Open, then posted putting ranks of 24th and 33rd across two rounds at the John Deere Classic, before showing further improvement with a top-20 putting round in two of his rounds at the ISCO Championship. The flashes are there; he simply needs to put four rounds together with the flat stick this week.
Davis Thompson at 50/1 (Eight Places) - 1pt EW
Davis Thompson's tied-seventh finish last week immediately caught my eye as he returns to an event where he has produced some of his best golf in recent seasons.
Ranking sixth for approach, third off the tee and 13th for driving distance at the long TPC Twin Cities are all encouraging signs heading into this week, and a strong performance at a venue with plenty of correlating form certainly adds confidence.
In fact, his record at courses that present a similar challenge to Detroit Golf Club is particularly notable:
- 7th at the 3M Open
- 26th at the 2026 John Deere Classic
- T19 at the 2025 Procore Championship
- T11 at the 2025 Wyndham Championship
- T18 at the 2025 John Deere Classic
- T25 at the 2025 Travelers Championship
Looking even deeper, his form at Donald Ross-designed courses reads T11-T34-T12-T2-T9-T22-T24, meaning he has finished inside the top 25 in six of his last seven starts on Ross layouts.
Three of those performances have come here at Detroit Golf Club, where finishes of T24 (2023), T2 (2024) and T34 (2025) having started the final round tied 13th last year, provide further evidence that the course suits his eye.
Thompson ranks 41st in driving distance this season and has now gained strokes on approach in three consecutive tournaments, ranking 14th in this field in strokes gained: approach when comparing the field over their last three starts.
Overall, he has the profile of a player beginning to hit his stride, and he arrives at a course where his combination of power, approach play and familiarity gives him every chance of contending.
Emiliano Grillo at 80/1 (Ten Places) - 1pt EW
Grillo continued his excellent run of form with a tied-seventh finish at the 3M Open last week and, while he does not quite possess the same course history here as he does at TPC Twin Cities, I think he is worth following into this event.
I wrote last week that Grillo was a risky bet given that his putting had been carrying him through this run while his iron play had struggled to find its best level. Unfortunately for us, that flipped last week, as he ranked 11th in the field for approach play and produced one of his strongest ball-striking displays of the season so far.
He did not disgrace himself with the putter, ranking 35th in the field, but the putts just weren't dropping, particularly in rounds three and four where he struggled to keep pace with the eventual winner due to his performance on the greens. Nevertheless, Grillo ranks seventh in this field for putting when isolating results over his last four tournaments. He ranked sixth and third in that department at the U.S. Open and John Deere Classic respectively, and Donald Ross-designed courses have a long-standing reputation for often being decided on the putting surfaces.
The changes made to the course should hopefully work in his favour, with less emphasis on raw distance off the tee and a greater premium placed on precision. If he has found something with his irons at TPC Twin Cities and can carry that form into this week, he has the skill set to compete.
His long irons are also in decent shape, which is an even bigger positive given the changes to the course and the fact that the two par 5s have now been transformed into demanding par 4s.
