RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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The penultimate PGA Tour event before the FedExCup playoffs is this week's Rocket Classic in Detroit, and it's definitely the last Rocket Classic and perhaps the last Tour event in the state of Michigan for a while. It's an unusually strong field for where this lies on the schedule. CBS and Paramount+ have weekend coverage.
While none of the world's top three are playing this week, we do get four of the top 10, including reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark. Multiple-time major winners like Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka are all making their tournament debuts. I wonder if that's because it's the final Rocket Classic, which has been the only annual PGA Tour event in the golf-mad and great state of Michigan (I'm biased, being from there) since 2019.
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But the mortgage company opted not to exercise its option for 2027 on the final year of its contract as sponsor. That reportedly sponsorship cost Rocket about $15 million annually, and this lower-tier event never drew the biggest names in golf like Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy. The complete 2027 PGA Tour schedule has not been finalized but should not include a stop in Michigan for the first time since after the Buick Open ended in 2009.
It's a shame, too, because Detroit Golf Club's North Course underwent a $16 million renovation after last year's event and has shifted from playing par 72 to par 70 (7,328 yards) with No. 7 and 17 now playing as 505- and 537-yard par 4s, respectively, instead of par 5s. But it has taken at least 18 under par to win here every year and still likely will take close to that in 2026.
The highest-ranked player in the field, at No. 3 in the world, is the USA's Cameron Young, and his +1000 price marks Young's shortest career pre-tournament odds to win on the PGA Tour. The only other event he was favored in was the 2023 3M Open, when Young was priced at +1400 but missed the cut.
His previous shortest odds overall to win entering an event was +1200 at this year's Cadillac Championship at Doral in the spring and he did win for one of his two 2026 victories. Young was a runner-up by five shots to Tony Finau in 2022 here (also had a T6 in 2024) and comes off a runner-up at the British Open in his last start. That was his fifth top-three finish this season, third-most on Tour. BetMGM is more exposed on Young than any player to win as he leads in handle (30.9%) and tickets (9.4%).
I do like Young for a top 10 at +108 but not as much as I do Schauffele at +162, even if he doesn't know the course. Still without a win this year, Schauffele does have five top-10s. BetMGM is third-most exposed on him to win.
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But I think the two big storylines this week are 20-somethings Jackson Koivun and Aldrich Potgieter. The 21-year-old Koivun won the 3M Open on Sunday in Minnesota, in only his third pro start on the PGA Tour (13th overall). He outdueled the world No. 1 Scheffler in doing so.
Koivun was 21 years and 2 days old Sunday, to become the 16th-youngest winner on the PGA Tour ever and youngest American player to win a Tour event by multiple strokes since the 1932 WM Phoenix Open. He is +2300 to go back-to-back, which would make Koivun the fourth-youngest golfer at the time of his second PGA Tour win in the past 40 years, following Tom Kim, Nick Dunlap and Tiger Woods.
Meanwhile, South Africa's Potgieter was only 20 last year and the youngest player on the PGA Tour when he captured the Rocket Classic on the fifth playoff hole over Max Greyserman and Chris Kirk. At the time, Potgieter was the ninth-youngest winner on the PGA Tour, and it helped earn him Rookie of the Year honors. He had been the youngest winner overall on Tour until Koivun on Sunday.
Potgieter led the 2025 field in driving distance and leads the Tour in driving distance for a second straight season (330.0 yards – would be a record for a full season) in 2026. It hasn't translated to much, with Potgieter missing nine cuts and posting only two top-10s. Thus, he's a +10500 longshot this week.
No one has repeated in the Rocket Classic, and only Aussie Cam Davis has won twice (2021, '24) – his only two Tour wins. Davis is having a disastrous year and is +2300 simply for a top-10 this week. He's the only golfer with multiple top-three finishes at the Rocket Classic. American Taylor Moore is the only player with three top-10s in event history and is +810 for one. Tempting.
Perhaps you should wager +350 that there will be a playoff, as three of the past five Rocket Classics have gone past 72 holes. It is sudden death, but last year's five-hole playoff was the longest on the PGA Tour since the 2021 BMW Championship went six.
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