2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic: Field
156 Players | Top 65 & Ties Make The Cut
First Tee: Thursday, June 29
Defending Champion: Tony Finau
2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic: Key Stats
Opportunities Gained
Eagles Gained
Par 4s Gained 350-400 Yards
Putting 5-15 Feet
Mayo’s Key Stats powered by FantasyNational.com
2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic: Course
Course: Detroit Golf Club
Yardage: 7,370
Par: 72
Greens: Bentgrass (with Poa)
Par 3s (4): Average distance – 192 yards
- The two longest Par 3s come within a three-hole stretch, both are among the four toughest holes on the course and carry a bogey-or-worse rate of at least 17%.
Par 4s (10): Average distance – 429 yards
- Variety is the spice of Par 4s … this course has five checking in under 400 yards and four others that measure over 450.
Par 5s (4): Average distance – 580 yards
- These are the four easiest holes on the course and the mammoth No. 4 (635 yards) is the only one that provides any resistance (the other three all carry an eagle rate of at least 1.9%)
2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic: Past Winners
- 2022: Tony Finau -26
- 2021: Cam Davis -18
- 2020: Bryson DeChambeau -23
- 2019: Nate Lashley -25
2022: Tony Finau (-26, five clear of Patrick Cantlay, Taylor Pendrith and Cameron Young)
- Finau was tied for the lead after Thursday (64), the start of a consistent week that saw him card four round of 67 or better
- Three of the top-four in SG: Off-the-Tee for the week cashed top-10 paychecks (shoutout to Chris Gotterup for managing to lead the field in this category and somehow finish in 40th)
2021: Cameron Davis (-18, playoff win over Troy Merritt and Joaquin Niemann)
- Davis shot 67-68 in all four rounds, consistency that allowed him to overcome being five back after Thursday
- Each of the top-11 finishers gained strokes both in approach and putting (five of them gained at least two strokes in both categories)
2020: Bryson DeChambeau (-23, three clear of Matthew Wolff)
- He picked up six strokes on Sunday over Wolff by posting his best round of the tournament (65). He carded a 67 or better in all four days.
- Five of the top-7 putters for the week cashed top-10 paychecks, including a tournament best +7.8 strokes putting by DeChambeau
2019: Nate Lashley (-25, six clear of Doc Redman)
- Lashley was a shot clear of the field after Thursday courtesy of a 63 and he replicated that round on moving day to remove all doubt.
- 11 of the top-12 finishers gained strokes putting on the field from 5-10 and 10-15 feet (Lashley was +9.2 strokes cumulative from those two categories)
2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic: Notes
Now that the Pete Dye portion of the schedule has been completed, we move on to the Donald Ross phase. With Detroit moving a month ahead on the schedule this year, the Ross course won’t be played in rapid succession like other years. Ross courses include:
- Detroit Golf Club (Rocket Mortgage)
- Sedgefield CC (Wyndham Championship)
- East Lake GC (TOUR Championship)
The Rocket Mortgage Classic is an amalgamation of both courses at Detroit Golf Club. There has been some re-routing for the tournament, including using a hole from the South Course. The South’s first hole will function as the tournament’s third hole and will be played from the North Course’s first hole tee box. Meanwhile, the regular eighth and ninth holes will be No. 1 and No. 2 for the tournament.
One of the most generous courses on TOUR off the tee, the field has hit over 50% of its drives over 300 yards at Detroit Golf Club while finding the short grass at a 65% clip. Unsurprisingly, this is where Bryson tested out the strategy that resulted in him hoisting the cleverly named U.S. Open Trophy later in 2020. Bryson became the first PGA TOUR winner to lead the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+6.7) and Strokes Gained: Putting (+7.8) during the ShotLink era. And yes, Bryson also led the field in Driving Distance (351 yards)
It was unclear at the time whether or not this strategy would hold up or if it was just a Bryson thing. But in the two years since, driving has proven to play a major role in success at the top. That, and putting.
Despite its 7,370 yards in total, Detroit Golf Club is actually much shorter. I talk every year about Riviera having hidden distance because of elevation and a lot of yardage saved on one Par 4 and the Par 5s, but DGC is kind of the opposite. There are four Par 4s measuring between 450 and 500 yards, but since the average driving distance is around 300 yards, those holes don’t actually play that long. Add on three of the four Par 5s which can’t protect themselves from eagles, and you have an average approach distribution that resembles the Travelers from last week, a course that came in just over 6,800 yards. The majority of approaches will be coming from 175 yards and in — that’s scoring time. Hence why the winning score has been well into the -20s three of the four years of this event’s existence.
