Rocket Classic
Purse: $10M
Winner's Share: $1.8M
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner
Location: Detroit, Michigan
Course: Detroit Golf Club
Yardage: 7,328
Par: 70
Previous Winners
2025 - Aldrich Potgieter
2024 - Cam Davis
2023 - Rickie Fowler
2022 - Tony Finau
2021 - Cam Davis
2020 - Bryson DeChambeau
2019 - Nate Lashley
Recap: Future shines at TPC Twin Cities
Following a two-week swing in the United Kingdom for the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open Championship, the PGA Tour returned to the United States for the 3M Open. Predictably, the field lacked major talent outside of World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, but that opened the door for other players to earn crucial points on the FedExCup standings to earn a spot in the playoffs. Scheffler, as he's done all season, made a late charge over the weekend, capped by a bogey-free, eight-under 63 score Sunday. It resulted in a fifth runner-up finish for Scheffler, and he could do nothing but sit and watch in the clubhouse as one of the future faces of the PGA Tour, 21-year-old Jackson Koivun, sealed his first victory as a professional with a 25-under cumulative score.
The 3M Open was Koivun's 13th PGA Tour but just his third as a professional, and he's the eighth-youngest winner of a PGA-sanctioned tournament in the past 10 years. What's more, thanks to his win at TPC Twin Cities, Koivun is 70th in the FedExCup Standings, currently occupying the final qualifying spot for the FedExCup Playoffs that starts Aug. 13 at the St. Jude Championship.
Other notable results at the 3M Open include Hideki Matsuyama (T3 -- first top-3 since his playoff loss to Chris Gotterup at the WM Phoenix Open in February), Brian Harman (T3), Gary Woodland (T10), Michael Kim (T10 despite shooting a 12-under 59 score Friday, just the 16th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history), Jake Knapp (T13 after a nine-under 62 final round), Scottish Open winner Tom Kim (T20) and 2025 3M Open champion Kurt Kitayama (T24). Top players who missed the cut include Max Homa, Pierceson Coody, Sudarshan Yellamaraju, Sungjae Im and Johnny Keefer.
Elsewhere, the PGA's youth movement was also apparent at the Evans Scholars Invitational on the Korn Ferry Tour, which was won by 21-year-old Tommy Morrison. It was just the fourth Korn Ferry Tour event of his career, but he has catapulted to eighth on the KFT's Points List and is on track to earn a PGA Tour membership for 2027. Another young phenom, Blades Brown, finished T5 thanks to his 10-under 61 third round and is 12th on the Points List.
Preview: Rocket Classic
The Rocket Classic is the penultimate tournament of the regular season and one of the final chances for players to crack the top-70 of the standings for a berth in the FedExCup Playoffs. It's also a tune-up event for those already on track for the Playoffs and includes 10 players ranked within the top-25 of the OWGR, led by Cameron Young, Russell Henley, three-time 2026 winner Chris Gotterup and reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark.
Detroit Golf Club has hosted the Rocket Classic for the last few years, but 2026 will be the last iteration of this event. It's a shame, really, since the Club invested $16 million in renovating the course. The course length is relatively the same, but it's been shifted from a par-72 course to a par-70. The seventh and 17th holes now play as par-4s, leaving No. 4 and 14 as the only par-5s on the course. Those are significant changes, as the seventh and 17th holes were ranked as the two-easiest in last year's tournament, with holes four and 14 following suit. The only water hazard on the course -- a pond in the front of the 14th green -- has been filled with native grass, and there are now 91 bunkers scattered throughout the course (up from 84 in previous years).
Each of the seven winners at the Rocket Classic won with scores of 18-under or better, with five champions carding rounds of at least 20-under. The changes to the par-5s should help lower the scoring, but with four par-4s measuring less than 400 yards, birdie chances will still be readily available for the field, especially those long hitters. Last year's winner, Potgieter, certainly has the profile of a player who can succeed on this course. He led the field last year in driving distance while ranking third in GIR and in the top-10 in SG: Off-the-Tee and Approach. Max Greyserman finished second last year in SG: Putting and eighth in SG: OTT, while Chris Kirk finished top-10 in GIR and both SG: Around and Approach.
The course might have undergone some big changes ahead of this year's event, but the key stats to success this time around look to be SG: Approach and GIR, SG: Off-the-Tee, driving accuracy and par-4 scoring.
Underdog Contest Overview
Underdog hosts drafts every week at three buy-in amounts; The Par 3 at $3, the featured draft at $10, and "The Sandbagger" at $100. Each entrant will be paired up with five other players and participate in a six-man snake draft of teams made up of six players (36 total selections), with each selection on a 30-second timer. For example, the person with the first overall pick and lucky enough to get Scheffler (unless you like to live dangerously) will have to wait until 2.6 and 3.1 to make their next selections. Points are allocated to golfers based on their performance on every hole, with bonus points available for golfers who make consecutive birdies or finish a round bogey free.
First Two Rounds
Cameron Young (1.1 Average Draft Position)
Si Woo Kim (2.6 ADP) is a solid second pick, but I'll highlight Young, who two weeks ago was right on the cusp of capturing his first major, only for Kiwi Ryan Fox to secure the Claret Jug with a clutch birdie on the 72nd hole. It may have been disappointing for Young to be so close to winning The Open (and he's probably thinking of that bogey on that same 72nd hole), but it was an important performance after finishing outside the top-40 in each of his three starts prior to Royal Birkdale. He's made the cut in each of his three outings at Detroit Golf Club, including T2 in 2022 and T6 in 2024.
Chris Gotterup (4.2 ADP)
Gotterup followed up his come-from-behind victory at the John Deere Classic with a solid two-week swing in the United Kingdom, finishing T11 at the Scottish Open and T18 at The Open Championship. He doesn't have a top-25 finish in his three outings at Detroit Golf Club, but Gotterup has been playing at an elevated level this season, and his three victories are a big reason why he's fifth in the FedExCup Standings. He ranks ninth in SG: Off-the-Tee, 21st in par-4 scoring and in the top-50 in GIR SG: Putting and SG: Approach.
Jackson Koivun (6.8 ADP)
Let's switch it up and ride the youth movement here. Koivun's victory at the 3M Open was special, but the only thing that you could maybe say was unexpected was the fact he was able to hold off the World No. 1 in convincing fashion en route to his first career PGA Tour victory. The signs have been there for Koivun, who had four top-11 finishes last year (including two top-5s) and carried that into 2026 with a T23 at the U.S. Open and a T10 at the ISCO Championship before his triumph at TPC Twin Cities. He led the field at the 3M Open in SG: Approach while ranking T3 in GIR and eighth in both SG: Putting and driving accuracy.
J.J. Spaun (11.8 ADP)
Unlike Gotterup, Spaun didn't have the greatest performance in the United Kingdom (T44 in Scotland and T40 at Royal Birkdale). However, he's finished in the top-15 in three of six prior appearances at the Rocket Classic (and two top-10s over his last three outings at Detroit Golf Club), and he's been one of the better players on Tour outside of the four majors. Spaun ranks fourth this season in SG: Approach, fifth in proximity and in the top-50 in SG: Off-the-Tee, driving accuracy and par-4 scoring.
Also consider: Jake Knapp (9.0 ADP -- appears to be past a left thumb issue after his T13 at the 3M Open, when he tied the course record with a score of 28 on the back nine; he finished that tournament third in SG: Approach and top-10 in SG: Off-the-Tee and GIR)
Middle-Round Value
Ben Griffin (12.8 ADP)
Griffin didn't have a great end to the major season (T59 at The Open), but he had finished in the top-25 in four of his five outings prior to Royal Birkdale, including T3 at the Charles Schwab Challenge, T17 at the U.S. Open and T10 at the Travelers. He's made the cut in all three of his prior outings at the Rocket Classic, including T13 last year. Griffin's approach game for the season isn't the strongest, but he's been better with his irons as of late and ranks fifth in SG: Around and 20th in SG: Putting.
Jackson Suber (18.3 ADP)
Suber missed the cut at last week's 3M Open but has noticeably been better since May. Prior to that, he missed the cut in five of his first eight tournaments and finished outside the top-60 in two other events. He's since had four top-20 performances, including fourth at both THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson and RBC Canadian Open before a T6 at the John Deere Classic. Suber ranks seventh in GIR and 19th in SG: Approach this season.
Michael Brennan (23.7 ADP)
It hasn't been the greatest season for Brennan, but he's coming off a T24 at the 3M Open (his third top-25 of 2026) when he gained a career-high 6.13 strokes in his approach play. He has the second-best SG: Off-the-Tee on the PGA Tour this season and also ranks eighth in total driving and in the top-60 in GIR and SG: Approach.
Also consider: Akshay Bhatia (15.6 ADP -- finished T17 in the U.S. Open and T5 at the Travelers before an MC at The Open, best putter on the PGA Tour while ranking 26th in SG: Around and 43rd in SG: Approach).
Late-Round Targets
Davis Thompson (24.4 ADP)
Thompson is coming off a T7 at the 3M Open -- his best finish since his solo fourth at the Puerto Rico Open -- and he finished third in SG: Off-the-Tee and sixth in both SG: Approach and GIR at TPC Twin Cities. For the season, he ranks 21st in SG: Approach, 28th in GIR and 40th in SG: Approach, as well as 12th in par-4 scoring.
Jordan Smith (35.1 ADP)
Smith is coming off a T39 performance at the 3M Open, when he finished in the top-10 in both SG: Off-the-Tee and GIR. The Englishman finished in the top-25 in three of four outings prior to TPC Twin Cities, including T18 at The Open, when he had the fourth-best driving accuracy in the field at Royal Birkdale. Smith ranks first in total driving this season, as well as fourth in GIR, 17th in SG: Off-the-Tee and 35th in SG: Approach.
Doug Ghim (35.1 ADP)
Ghim has missed the cut in each of his last two outings, with his MC at the 3M Open coming after a double bogey on the penultimate hole of the second round. He was playing some solid golf prior to that, including a T15 at the RBC Canadian Open and T6 at the John Deere Classic. Ghim ranks eighth in SG: Off-the-Tee, 12th in par-4 scoring and scrambling, 20th in proximity and 26th in GIR this season.
William Mouw (36.0 ADP)
Mouw's missed cut at last week's 3M Open was largely due to his dreadful performance with the putter, losing 5.60 strokes in that category to cancel out the good work he did off the tee and with his irons. Detroit Golf Club is a great opportunity for him to bounce back; he ranks fifth in total driving, 23rd in SG: Approach and in the top-50 in GIR and driving accuracy this season.
Other late-round dart throws: Corey Conners (26.9 ADP), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (35.4 ADP), Jesper Svensson (no ADP), Joel Dahmen (no ADP).
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