2021 Rocket Mortgage Classic: Top 10 power rankings at Detroit Golf Club

Those on the PGA Tour who are playing their fourth straight event this week sure are racking up the flight miles.

From South Carolina to California to Connecticut to Michigan goes the traveling golf circus.

We’re at Detroit Golf Club in Detroit, Michigan, for the third edition of the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

This event was previously the Quicken Loans Nationa, which bounced around courses primarily in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S.

Detroit Golf Club was founded in 1899. It was originally a six-hole course when it opened in 1906, before Donald Ross arrived in 1913 to construct 36 holes.

Detroit Golf Club hosted the 1911 Western Amateur, 1941 Ryder Cup and 1992 U.S. Mid-Amateur.

The field of 156 players this week will be taking on a 7,334-yard, par-72 layout that is a composite of the property’s North and South courses.

The bentgrass/poa annua greens aren’t as severely tea cup shaped as other Ross designs like Pinehurst No. 2, but they are still one of the courses’s main defenses.

The fairways and rough are bentgrass/poa mixed with bluegrass.

According to PGA Tour Shotlink data, DGC is the flattest course on the schedule.

It is also one of the easiest.

Both tournament editions have been runaway victories as Nate Lashley reached 25-under to win by six in 2019 and Bryson DeChambeau was 23-under to win by three in 2020.

Last year played firm and fast, but wide fairways still made it easy for players to pick DGC apart. Fifty-two players posted 10-under or better and the 36-hole cut line was 4-under.

Softer conditions look imminent this time. Rain is in the forecast for each of the practice round days and perhaps during the tournament.

That will help lower the scores since the field strength isn’t doing a lot on its own. Only two top-10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are teeing it up this week, and one is the defending champ, No. 6 DeChambeau.

The Open Championship is in two weeks, so this is where most big names are shutting it down before heading overseas.

Nonetheless, the Rocket Mortgage Classic will offer a servicable appetizer at a classic gem of a course in the Midwest.

Here are the 10 players with the best chance to win at Detroit Golf Club: