Rocket Mortgage Classic PGA DFS Stats Preview: Course Fits, GPP Picks, and Values

For the fifth consecutive year, the PGA TOUR heads to Detroit Golf Club to play the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

A Donald Ross design, Detroit Golf Club features a 7,370-yard par 72 layout. The course is extremely flat throughout and has Bentgrass greens. The front and back nines present quite differently, with the front being tree-lined and the back having a wide-open setup.

The event will likely be a low-scoring affair considering the course has offered very little in terms of resistance in the first four editions of the tournament.

The Rocket Mortgage Classic is scheduled to play host to 156 entrants, including Tony Finau, Max Homa, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Sungjae Im, and Rickie Fowler.

For contests on DraftKings, I will be breaking down the key stats (past 24 rounds) and selecting golfers from different price tiers to provide flexibility for a DFS lineup.

Don’t forget to check out two key metrics in our models — Perfect% and SimLeverage. You can find an explainer on those metrics here.

The cliff notes version is that you can use SimLeverage to quickly find leverage plays in tournaments, while Perfect% is excellent for finding the best price-considered plays for cash games.

For large-field tournaments, you can utilize our Lineup Optimizer to effortlessly create up to 300 lineups, or use our Lineup Builder if you like to hand-build your lineups.

This analysis may reference Strokes Gained, a set of proprietary metrics generated by the PGA TOUR using millions of data points to calculate how many shots, on average, it takes a player to get the ball in the hole from every distance and situation.

Strokes Gained is now available in the FantasyLabs PGA Models.

Strokes Gained: Off The Tee

Most of the holes on the back nine at Detroit Golf Club are wide open, which really favors the big hitters. Players who fit that mold, like Tony Finau, Bryson DeChambeau, Matthew Wolff, Joaquin Niemann, and Cameron Davis, have had plenty of success at the course.

High-end target: Sungjae Im — $9,400 (10th in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee)
Mid-range target: Byeong Hun An — $8,200 (1st in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee)
Value target: Garrick Higgo — $7,200 (3rd in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee)

Strokes Gained: Approach

Using approach in our statistics will be a good indicator of current form, as it almost always is. At a course where most golfers will be playing from the fairway, proximity to the hole will be the separator.

High-end target: Hideki Matsuyama — $9,600 (3rd Strokes Gained: Approach)
Mid-range target: Tom Kim — $9,800 (9th Strokes Gained: Approach)
Value target: Lucas Glover — $6,600 (13th Strokes Gained: Approach)

Birdie or Better: Gained

The Rocket Mortgage Classic will be a birdie fest this year. Three of the four events here have eclipsed -20, and 2021 got close, but a windy round three kept it just below. It will take birdies in bunches — and potentially a few eagles — to win this event.

High-end target: Rickie Fowler — $10,400 (1st Birdie or Better: Gained)
Mid-range target: Cameron Davis — $9,300 (9th Birdie or Better: Gained)
Value target: Gordon Sargent — $7,500 (13th Birdie or Better: Gained)

Strokes Gained: Par 5

With four par 5s on the course that all average under par, taking advantage of these easy holes will be a requirement to contend.

High-end target: Rickie Fowler — $10,400 (2nd Strokes Gained: Par 5)
Mid-range target: Ludvig Aberg — $8,700 (5th Strokes Gained: Par 5)
Value target: Carson Young — $7,000 (11th Strokes Gained: Par 5)

Strokes Gained: Total Donald Ross Designs

Detroit Golf Club is a Donald Ross design. Many golfers who play Ross designs well do so on a regular basis.

High-end target: Sungjae Im — $9,400 (3rd Strokes Gained: Total Donald Ross Designs)
Mid-range target: Taylor Moore — $7,900 (5th Strokes Gained: Total Donald Ross Designs)
Value target: Taylor Pendrith — $7,400— (7th Strokes Gained: Total Donald Ross Designs)

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