PGA TOUR picks: Six Rocket Classic 2026 best bets ready to attack the Detroit Golf Club's tougher greens
· Fox News
The PGA TOUR rolls into the Motor City for the eighth and final edition of the Rocket Classic at historic Detroit Golf Club. Debuting in 2019, the event has produced champions such as Bryson DeChambeau, Rickie Fowler and two-time winner Cam Davis, but Rocket Mortgage will not return as title sponsor in 2027.
Detroit Golf Club’s renovated Donald Ross layout has been transformed into a 7,328-yard, par-70 test. Two former par-5s are now lengthy par-4s, while rebuilt greens, repositioned bunkers and more challenging green complexes should place a greater premium on accurate approach play and scrambling.
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Last week, 21-year-old Jackson Koivun held off Scottie Scheffler to win the 3M Open by three strokes in just his third professional start. Koivun now joins a loaded Detroit field featuring Cameron Young, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Hideki Matsuyama, Russell Henley and Chris Gotterup.
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Miraculously, I won money at last week's 3M Open thanks to four of my five guys cashing placement bets. After banking +3.35 units (u) at the 3M Open, my 2026 PGA TOUR balance is at -50.18u. This week, I'm allocating 2.11u on six guys to win outright and backing them up with 2.75u worth of placements. Here are my picks for the Detroit Golf Club.
Rocket Classic 2026 betting card
The following odds are based on my previous bets on the golfers listed below. Subject to change.
🇯🇵 Hideki Matsuyama +3678 at Polymarket (0.55u) and Top-10 with ties +295 at Kalshi (0.5u)
🇺🇸 Ryan Gerard +4662 at Polymarket (0.43u) and Top-10 with ties +295 at Kalshi (0.5u)
🇺🇸 Akshay Bhatia +4870 at Polymarket (0.41u) and Top-20 with ties +205 at Kalshi (0.5u)
🇺🇸 Keegan Bradley +6111 (0.33u) and Top-20 with ties +205 (0.5u), both at Kalshi
🇺🇸 Davis Thompson +7094 (0.28u) and Top-20 with ties +252 (0.5u), both at Kalshi
🇸🇪 Jesper Svensson +17641 at Polymarket (0.11u) and and Top-20 with ties +528 at Kalshi (0.25u)
I’m going back to the well on Hideki after he cashed a top-10 ticket last week by tying for third at the 3M Open. The driver has been the weakest club in the bag this season, but he’s gained strokes off-the-tee (OTT) in his last three tournaments.
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Surprisingly, Matsuyama lost strokes on approach last week, and he is one of the best iron players in the world. In fact, Hideki led the field in Strokes Gained (SG): Approach at last year’s Rocket Classic, and he’s gained strokes with his irons in four of his five career visits to the Detroit Golf Club.
Matsuyama has a world-class short game, which will be more important this week at the Detroit Golf Club due to the offseason renovations that made the green complexes tougher.
Furthermore, Hideki has gained strokes on the field putting in six of his last seven starts. Ultimately, if Matsuyama has another good week driving the ball, he should be a top-five betting favorite at the Rocket Classic.
According to Betsperts Golf, Gerard is third in total strokes gained over the last 24 rounds. He has three top-10 finishes over that span: T10 at the Charles Schwab Challenge, second at the Memorial Tournament and T9 at The 154th Open Championship.
Gerard has gained strokes putting in his last six starts, per DataGolf.com, with his driver in five straight, and around-the-green in four straight. Colonial Country Club, the host course of the Charles Schwab, is another Par 70 that’s a good tee-to-green (T2G) test with Bentgrass greens.
The Memorial is a "signature event" with a world-class field played at another Midwest course with Bent greens, and Gerard led the field in putting that week. The T9 at the British Open in his last start was Gerard’s second-best finish in a major.
He is close to breaking through for his first career win in a PGA TOUR regular-season event (he won the 2025 Barracuda Championship, an opposite-field event), and I have a hunch Gerard will play well this week.
There is little danger from T2G at the Detroit Golf Club, and Bhatia has one of the best short-games on TOUR. In fact, he leads the TOUR this year in SG: Putting, and he ranks third in this field in SG: Short-game (chipping and putting) over the last eight months, according to Betsperts Golf.
The biggest change to the Detroit Golf Club this offseason is to the greens, and if I trust anyone to learn these new greens, it’s the leader in SG: Putting. Bhatia’s short-game is so good that he won the 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational, another "signature event," despite losing strokes to the field in ball-striking (driving and approach).
Meanwhile, Akshay should’ve, could’ve won the 2024 Rocket Classic, but he three-putted on the final hole to lose by a stroke. Bhatia finished T26 in last year’s Rocket Classic because he was 137th in SG: Around-the-Green and 104th in SG: Putting.
However, Akshay ranked eighth in SG: T2G last year, and has gained strokes ball-striking in his three Rocket Classics. If he can marry his career ball-striking at the Detroit Golf Club with his short-game from this season, Bhatia could get his second win of the year.
This is a "gut feeling" bet because Keegan is a proven winner who’s gotten at least one win in the past four years. Two of those wins are the 2023 and 2025 Travelers Championships, which were played at a comp course (TPC River Highlands) to the Detroit Golf Club.
Also, while this year’s Rocket Classic field is the strongest in the tournament’s history, last year’s Rocket Classic field wasn’t that much weaker and Bradley closed at +2000. Albeit he was playing much better last year, and won the 2025 Travelers a week before.
Regardless, Bradley has made the cut in his five career Rocket Classics, and he has gained strokes with his irons in eight consecutive starts, including the last three majors and three signature events, and is underrated ARG.
Meaning, Keegan is familiar with this place, is hitting the ball well lately, and his crafty short-game could be useful given the renovations to the Detroit Golf Club’s greens.
Before breaking through for his first PGA TOUR win at the 2024 John Deere Classic, Thompson finished T9 at the U.S. Open and T2 at the Rocket Classic in the two lead-in tournaments.
Pinehurst Resort, the host of the 2024 U.S. Open, is also a Donald Ross course, like the Detroit Golf Club, and the John Deere is a similar tournament setup as the Rocket Classic. As in, they have similar fields and are both played in the Midwest at the same time on the calendar.
Maybe his T7 at last week’s 3M Open is a sign that Thompson is ready to win again. The 3M Open is another Midwest tournament at an easy course, like the Rocket Classic. Plus, he is third in this field for average strokes gained at Donald Ross courses over the last three years, per Betsperts Golf.
I’m taking a shot with Thompson at this price because he has all the talent in the world and is still just 27-years-old. Lastly, the sharp money is on his +7094 odds. Bookmaker, the sharpest sportsbook in the golf betting market, has Thompson’s odds at roughly 60-to-1.
All the models I built for the 2026 Rocket Classic have many driving stats because Detroit Golf Club is an easy "bomber’s paradise". That said, Svensson is seventh in my 40-round model at Bet The Number because he ranks third in this field for SG: OTT, 10th in driving distance and 13th in birdie-or-better rate.
The Swede finished T9 at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson five starts back and T4 at the 2026 RBC Canadian Open three starts back. The host courses of those two events are similar to the Detroit Golf Club; both are driver-heavy courses with Bentgrass greens.
Mayo Cup season standings: 4,397th with $5,432,536
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