Rocket Mortgage Classic Betting Picks, Odds, Course Preview and Prediction
The PGA Tour now heads to Michigan for the Rocket Mortgage Classic this week. Andy Lack shares his Rocket Mortgage Classic betting picks, odds, course preview, and prediction. Don't miss out on these Golf picks.
Andy Lack - June 24, 2024, 10:00 AM EDT
10 minRocket Mortgage Classic Betting Picks, Odds, Course Preview and Prediction
After an eventful three week stretch of two Signature events sandwiched by a major, the PGA Tour heads to Detroit Golf Club for the Rocket Mortgage Classic. This tournament replaced the Quicken Loans National in 2019, and catering to all styles of play, it has provided a wide variety of champions, including Bryson DeChambeau, Tony Finau, and Rickie Fowler.
Detroit Golf Club is a far cry from what we recently saw at Pinehurst and this event will be far more of a shootout than what we typically see at Donald Ross golf courses. The greens still provide some intrigue and undulation, but under typically receptive conditions, players can still attack with short irons, and the four par fives provide plentiful birdie opportunities. While most players view this as a natural week off to rest up before the Open Championship, Rickie Fowler will return to defend his title, and he will be joined by the likes of Tom Kim, Will Zalatoris, Cameron Young, and Alex Noren.
Rocket Mortgage Classic DATE, START TIME, AND WHERE TO WATCH
- Date: June 27 - 30, 2024
- Where: Detroit, MI
- Where to Watch: Golf Channel, NBC, Peacock
Rocket Mortgage Classic ODDS
- Winner: Joohyung Kim (+1200), Cameron Young (+1400), Akhshay Bhatia (+2200)
Click here for the latest the Rocket Mortgage Classic odds
Rocket Mortgage Classic: Course Preview
Detroit Golf Club
Similar to what we saw last week at TPC River Highlands, Detroit Golf Club is a standard, tree-lined parklands, Bent-grass birdie-fest. The Donald Ross design struggles to keep up with modern technology, and we should expect some incredibly low scores. Last year, Detroit Golf Club ranked 40th out of 45 courses in scoring average, and all five years it has hosted, it's played as one of the top 10 easiest courses on Tour. Last year, it played even easier than in years past. The golf course itself is fairly wide open off the tee and devoid of any real hazards.
The rough is generally thick and lush, but Detroit is so short, and there is little penalty for massive misses, that players can wail away with reckless abandon and still find themselves with a high degree of short-iron approach shots. Like any Donald Ross course, the greens still feature some tricky undulations and contouring, but they are generally so soft and receptive that elite players are not challenged. This golf course could provide a sterner test if it played firm and fast, but the area often receives some rain, and tournament organizers over-water the course anyway.
Any course with four par fives is going to provide plentiful scoring opportunities, and three of them are reachable by nearly all players in the field. Even the 630-yard fourth hole features a 28% birdie rate. Of the ten par fours, only two of them measure over 460 yards, and four are below 400 yards. Every single hole except the 11th features over a 12% birdie rate, but unlike a golf course such as TPC Twin Cities, there's no real blowout up potential.
Only two holes feature over a 20% bogey rate, and only one hole features over a 2% double bogey rate. There is virtually zero penalty for poor shots, and that is simply the nature of this golf course under receptive conditions. There are putting contests, and then there is the Rocket Mortgage, where players can get away with very mediocre tee to green play and still shoot a good score if the putter can bail them out. This week, I will primarily be looking for great wedge players and putters inside 15 feet who typically raise their baseline in easier scoring conditions.
Rocket Mortgage Key Stats
- Strokes Gained Putting: Bent/Poa
- Putting 3-15 Feet
- Strokes Gained Total: Easy Scoring Conditions
Rocket Mortgage Classic: Outright Picks
Maverick McNealy (+3000) Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds
While this is certainly the shortest price I could have ever imagined backing Maverick McNealy in a PGA Tour event, our unique circumstances call for it this week. The Rocket Mortgage Classic may be the most exaggerated version of a putting contest that we will find all year, and McNealy might be the best pound-for-pound putter on the entire PGA Tour. He ranks fifth in this field in Bent-grass/Bent/Poa putting and sixth in this field in putting from 5-15 feet. There are few players in this field I trust more to separate with his flat-stick and win this style of event, and for what it's worth, he's hitting the ball well right now. McNealy is coming off a seventh at the Canadian Open where he gained strokes in all four major categories, including 2.5 on approach and 4.1 putting. The former Stanford standout has now gained over two strokes ball-striking in four straight starts, and he returns to an incredibly comfortable spot. McNealy has recorded an eighth and 21st in three appearances at Detroit Golf Club. Unsurprisingly, he has always putted well here too. One of the better PGA Tour players without a victory, this will be one of his better opportunities to get on the board.
Matt Wallace (+6500) Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds
With two top-12 finishes already in three appearances at Detroit Golf Club, Matt Wallace sneakily possesses some of the strongest course history in this field. Wallace’s fit at the Donald Ross design should not come as a surprise, as the Englishman is a great wedge player and putter inside 15 feet. He’s recorded a bunch of strong finishes this year already on easier golf courses, including a fourth at TPC Craig Ranch, a similarly long irons and wedges Bent-grass courses where birdies are the name of the game. Coming off a strong finish at the KLM Open, as well as a 27th at the Canadian Open in his last PGA Tour start where he gained over five strokes on approach, Wallace is primed for his first victory of the season.
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GOLF ODDS
