The First Look: Rocket Mortgage Classic

The PGA TOUR’s Return to Golf continues with the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club. It’s the second iteration of the event after 2019’s debut. Five of the top 10 on the FedExCup standings will tee it up in Michigan along with Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, and last year’s winner, Nate Lashley. FIELD NOTES: 12-time PGA TOUR winner and former world No.1 Jason Day will make his Rocket Mortgage Classic debut … Another former No. 1, Dustin Johnson, will play in Detroit for the second year in a row … Nate Lashley will return to defend along with former U.S. Amateur champion Doc Redman, who was last year’s runner-up after Monday qualifying … Four-time TOUR winner Kevin Na will play his maiden Rocket Mortgage Classic … Bryson DeChambeau, who finished T3-T8 in the first two events back after the hiatus, will also make his Rocket Mortgage Classic debut … Sponsor exemptions include new pros Sahith Theegala and Peter Kuest. Theegala won this year’s Ben Hogan and Fred Haskins awards. FEDEXCUP: Winner gets 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: Detroit Golf Club (North), 7,334 yards, par 72. The North course opened more than 100 years ago and was recently upgraded in order to prepare for the TOUR’s arrival in 2019. The 5 under par cutline a year ago was the lowest on TOUR since 2016, and tournament organizers, per the Detroit Free Press, are expected to grow the rough longer to beef up the difficulty this year. STORYLINES: This will be the fourth event on the PGA TOUR’s Return to Golf … The PGA TOUR returned to Michigan last year for the first time since 2009… Three of the world’s top 10 players – Dustin Johnson, Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed – will tee it up in Detroit… The last three events had all of the top-5 golfers in the world in the field, but both Brooks Koepka and Webb Simpson withdrew from the Travelers Championship out of an abundance of caution due to COVID-19. 72-HOLE RECORD: 263, Nate Lashley (2019) 18-HOLE RECORD: 63, Nate Lashley (2019, first round), J.T. Poston (2019, second round) LAST TIME: It was one of the most feel-good stories on TOUR a year ago as Nate Lashley, the last man in the field, captured his first PGA TOUR title. He won by six shots over Redman after leading the tournament wire-to-wire. Lashley’s backstory is well documented: Both his parents and college girlfriend died in a plane crash en route to watching him play an event. Wes Roach and Rory Sabbatini finished T3 while six players, including former FedExCup champion Brandt Snedeker, major champion Patrick Reed, and young star Joaquin Niemann, finished T5. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday 6:30 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured groups), Saturday-Sunday 8 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups). Saturday-Sunday 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (featured holes). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

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