The Rocket Mortgage Classic DFS Golf Picks
Make the most of the data, predictions, and insights from this article to help with your fantasy golf picks for the Rocket Mortgage Classic, and check out our PGA Optimizer to make more informed player selections for your DFS DraftKings lineups. Best of luck this week!
The Rocket Mortgage Classic
Preview for the Rocket Mortgage Classic: Much the same as last week’s 3M Open, this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic is a relatively new event on the PGA Tour as this will be just the fourth year that it has been held. The record at this tournament since 2019 is -25 – shot three years ago by Nate Lashley to beat Doc Redman by 6 shots. Winners of the 3M Open over the last three years include Cameron Davis in 2021, Bryson DeChambeau in 2020, and the aforementioned Nate Lashley in 2019.
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Tournament purse: The prize money for this week’s event is $8.4M, the winner collects $1.512M and also earns himself 500 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: Detroit Golf Club is 7,330 yards in length, is a par 72, and the greens are a mix of bentgrass and poa annua. The winning score at this tournament over the last three years ranges from -18 to -25 and you can expect something high in this range again. Some key stats to focus on this week, in order, are strokes gained: putting, strokes gained: off the tee, driving distance, strokes gained: tee to green, and strokes gained: approach.
The field: We again have a full 156-player field this week with the top 65 golfers plus ties after round 2 advancing to round 3 on Saturday and round 4 on Sunday. We will see a few talented players competing this week including Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Max Homa, Davis Riley, Webb Simpson, Cameron Young, Will Zalatoris, and others. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be a C+.
Three questions that are relevant to the Rocket Mortgage Classic this week:
1. What are the top 10 players in my custom model? I built a custom model using a combination of the key stats above plus strokes gained: total, and my top 10 players from it are Tony Finau, Will Zalatoris, Keegan Bradley, Max Homa, Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Young, Cameron Davis, Davis Riley, Callum Tarren, and Scott Stallings.
2. Which 10 players have been the top putters over their last 24 rounds? The most polarizing key stat this week is putting – the best gainers recently are Michael Thorbjornsen, Denny McCarthy, Patrick Cantlay, Adam Svensson, Patrick Rodgers, Beau Hossler, Nick Hardy, Matt Kuchar, Austin Cook, and Michael Gligic.
3. Which 10 players have gained the most strokes total here since 2019? Nate Lashley, Cameron Tringale, Kevin Kisner, Wyndham Clark, Brandon Hagy, Chris Kirk, Maverick McNealy, Jonathan Byrd, Matt Wallace, and Troy Merritt.
DraftKings lineup construction strategy this week: With another full field on tap this week and some better players at the top versus last week, I would advise going with stars and scrub lineups in GPPs and mixing in some hybrid configurations for good measure, as well. Look for value where you can find it, examine projected ownership on Wednesday if you have some premium DFS tools at your disposal, and don’t be shy to leave at least $500 on the table to be unique in the big GPPs.
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in some contests this week – here are my 15 DFS golf picks which feature my top 3 players from each tier on DraftKings (DK) in no particular order, plus I include player salaries for DK, as well. I consistently provide recent and seasonal finishes for each of my picks, their performances at the event over the last 5 years, and add in some tasty pieces of information, also.
The $10K+ Range
Cameron Young (Salary: DraftKings – $10.1K) – This “Young” man will win at some point on the PGA Tour and it could come as soon as this week. He’s fresh off the 2nd place finish at The Open Championship where he gained strokes across the board including 9.13 ball-striking, and he has five top 3’s over his last thirteen starts, so he’s knocking on the door. Rocket Mortgage Classic finishes over the last five years: None.
Will Zalatoris (Salary: DraftKings – $10.4K) – Here’s another 20-something stud who’s looking to win on the PGA Tour for the first time and with six top 6’s over his last ten starts, he’s eager to hoist a trophy sooner rather than later. He’s a ball-striking machine, is good around the green, and pops at times with his putter, so he’s dangerous any week he plays. Rocket Mortgage Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T77.
The $9K Range
Cameron Davis (Salary: DraftKings – $9.7K) – Davis comes into this week in fine form and could go back-to-back at this event given his raw skill and talent. He has four top 8’s over his last nine starts – two of them have come in his last three starts and he has finished no worse than T16 over his last three. Rocket Mortgage Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – Won, 2020 – Cut, and 2019 – Cut.
Max Homa (Salary: DraftKings – $9.9K) – He screwed me a bit at The Open Championship as he missed the cut, but prior to that he was on a great run that included a T5 at the Memorial and he won the Wells Fargo Championship in May. He’s the complete package and should comfortably top his T25 from a year ago. Rocket Mortgage Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T25 and 2019 – T42.
Kevin Kisner (Salary: DraftKings – $9.1K) – The stars may be aligning for Kisner this week as he had a T3 here two years ago, a T8 last year, he finished T6 at the Travelers Championship two starts ago, and put up a surprising T21 at The Open Championship two weeks ago thanks to a strong approach and short game. Rocket Mortgage Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T8, 2020 – T3, and 2019 – T46.
The $8K Range
Denny McCarthy (Salary: DraftKings – $8.9K) – Putting is the big stat to hone in on this week, and McCarthy has been one of the very best putters on the PGA Tour over the past few years. His play recently has been outstanding with three top 7’s in his last four starts including a 7th at the U.S. Open – look for him to build off of his T21 from three years ago. Rocket Mortgage Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – Cut and 2019 – T21.
Maverick McNealy (Salary: DraftKings – $8.8K) – He’s heating up again with two top 9’s in his last four starts and three top 16’s over his last four. McNealy has been solid at this event in his two looks at it, and that trend should continue this week assuming his strong short game continues. Rocket Mortgage Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T21 and 2020 – T8.
Mark Hubbard (Salary: DraftKings – $8.0K) – Hubbard has really been impressive throughout this year – especially over his last two with a 3rd at the Barbasol Championship and a 4th at the Barracuda Championship. Sure, both events have weak fields, but his stats are deep and he should be beaming with confidence heading into this week, plus he had a T12 here two years ago, so he knows his way around this track. Rocket Mortgage Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – Cut and 2020 – T12.
The $7K Range
Scott Stallings (Salary: DraftKings – $7.7K) – His finishes keep improving year-over-year at this tournament and he’s a threat to get inside the top 20 this week. Stallings has three top 8’s over his last five starts and two of those were T4’s – he’s doing it through approach and putting which I like seeing. Rocket Mortgage Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T25, 2020 – T39, and 2019 – T64.
Michael Gligic (Salary: DraftKings – $7.0K) – Since Gligic’s withdrawal at the Canadian Open in his native country, he has five straight top 40’s including a T10 at the John Deere Classic where his ball-striking and putting were impressive. He should finish inside the top 40 and has the upside to get inside the top 10 if his ball-striking and putting remain hot. Rocket Mortgage Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T41 and 2020 – Cut.
Greyson Sigg (Salary: DraftKings – $7.1K) – He may have missed five cuts in a row, but over his last four starts he has finished no worse than T27 and is coming off a T7 at the 3M Open last week where he gained 9.31 strokes ball-striking. Another top 30 isn’t a certainty but there’s a decent chance of it happening, and he’s a threat to lock down another top 10. Rocket Mortgage Classic finishes over the last five years: None.
The $6K Range
Chesson Hadley (Salary: DraftKings – $6.9K) – With three top 10’s in his last five starts, Hadley is rocking and rolling thanks to consistently gaining strokes in most of the major stat categories. He hasn’t done overly great at this venue, but is coming into this week in much better shape versus previous years, so if you like recent form more than course history, you should be on Chesson in Motor City. Rocket Mortgage Classic finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T52, 2020 – Cut, and 2019 – Cut.
Hayden Buckley (Salary: DraftKings – $6.9K) – The good times started rolling at the U.S. Open with a 14th place finish and he has two more top 30’s since then in four starts. He has been a ball-striking machine over his last six starts, and could do some serious damage if his short game wakes up. Rocket Mortgage Classic finishes over the last five years: None.
Vince Whaley (Salary: DraftKings – $6.8K) – Whaley has four top 43’s over his last six starts including a 5th at the Barbasol Championship in his most recent start – gaining strokes across the board including 9.23 with his short game. He’s a tad risky, but has some upside given his low salary number. Rocket Mortgage Classic finishes over the last five years: None.
