The 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic is being held at Detroit Golf Club once again, the 5th edition of the tournament. The 1st round will begin on Thursday morning as Tony Finau looks to defend his title.
Below, we search for the best value prop bets among the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic odds and make our PGA Tour picks and predictions.
Finau is No. 6 in this week’s Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, making him the highest-ranked player in the field in Detroit. Rickie Fowler, the tournament co-favorite with Finau (+1200), is ranked 9th. With this only being the 5th edition of the Rocket Mortgage Classic, there’s not a lot of course or tournament history, but Finau, Cam Davis and Nate Lashley are all past winners who will compete this week.
Detroit Golf Club is a par 72 and 7,370 yards, considerably longer than last week’s Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands, which was only 6,841 yards. Detroit Golf Club is the flattest course on the PGA Tour schedule and is a traditional tree-lined venue without much trouble. Hence, the winning score of 26-under from Finau last year.
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Rocket Mortgage Classic – Top-5 picks
Odds provided by BetMGM Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET.
Sungjae Im (+350)
Im played relatively well at the Travelers Championship last week after missing the cut in 3 of his previous 4 events. I love his chances this week with birdies coming in bunches, typically the style of tournament Im excels in.
Tom Kim (+400)
Kim had two excellent rounds at the Travelers last week, shooting 64 and 65 in the 2nd and 4th rounds. He’s still not in perfect form, but the youngster is playing well enough to contend this week after finishing 7th here last year.
Rocket Mortgage Classic – Top-10 picks
Cam Davis (+275)
Davis won here in 2021 and came back with a T-14 last year, showing Detroit Golf Club is a good fit for his game. He’s been hot and cold this season but he’s coming off a final-round 63 at the Travelers so perhaps he can carry some of that momentum into this week.
Rickie Fowler (+125)
Fowler is due for a win. I don’t know if he gets there this week as the favorite, but I like him for another top 10, which would be his 8th of the season already. He’s playing some of his best golf right now no matter the course.
Austin Eckroat (+375)
Eckroat backed up his top 10 at the U.S. Open with a T-24 at the Travelers Championship last week, continuing some stellar play from the rookie. He already has 3 top 10s and 6 top 25s this season.
Other T10 contenders (in order from longest odds to shortest):
- Ludvig Aberg (+333)
- Max Homa (+170)
Rocket Mortgage Classic – Top-20 picks
Ludvig Aberg (+150)
We’re going back to Aberg again this week. This is his 3rd start as a PGA Tour pro after notching 2 top-25s in his first 2 starts. No course is too long or tricky for this budding star and he’s going to break through with a win sooner rather than later. For now, I’ll take him again for a top 20.
Nate Lashley (+350)
We’re betting on course history with this pick. Lashley won here in the first edition of the tournament in 2019 and while he’s only made the cut once since then, he has 3 top-30s in his last 5 starts overall this year.
Justin Suh (+275)
Suh is a cut-maker and with 6 top-25s this season, he’s also been in contention. He has finishes of T-16, T-26 and T-27 in his last 5 starts, continuing to play well this year.
Rocket Mortgage Classic – Matchups
Suggested play is golfer in bold.
Cam Davis (+115) vs. Keegan Bradley (-145)
Bradley came up with an emotional win at the Travelers Championship last week and he may not be 100% focused in Detroit as a result. It’s perfectly understandable, too. There are many celebrations to be had. I’ll go with the guy who has won here before at plus-money.
Tom Kim (+105) vs. Hideki Matsuyama (-130)
Matsuyama has been so steady as of late, finishing between 13th and 32nd in his last 5 starts. However, I think Kim has more upside this week, especially after finishing 7th here a year ago.
Austin Eckroat (-105) vs. Alex Smalley (-120)
Both Eckroat and Smalley are playing well right now but Eckroat hasn’t finished worse than 30th in his last 5 starts, while Smalley has 1 missed cut and a 40th-place finish in his last 5.
Rocket Mortgage Classic – Top Swedish
Ludvig Aberg (+150)
Alex Noren and Vincent Norrman are the two Swedes with the best odds after Aberg, with Henrik Norlander and David Lingmerth also in the field. Aberg looks more than comfortable as a pro so I’ll take him to beat out these 4 other players.
Rocket Mortgage Classic – Top Australian
Cam Davis (-150)
It might be a little risky to bet Davis, who’s missed the cut twice here, at -150, but there isn’t a lot of competition here. Aaron Baddeley is the 2nd-favorite at +300 so it might only take a made cut for Davis to cash this bet.
Rocket Mortgage Classic – First-round leader
Max Homa (+3300)
Homa is 6th on tour in 1st-round scoring average this season and has played well here in the past, finishing 24th and 25th the last 2 years.
Sungjae Im (+3300)
Im is 22nd in 1st-round scoring average and already has a top-10 and top-25 on this course.
More expert prop bet predictions
Group B winner: Tom Kim (+333)
Kim gets Matsuyama (+280), Homa (+280), Bradley (+400) and Davis (+500) in this group, making him the 3rd-favorite. Though he hasn’t won here like Davis, I think he’ll contend this week and beat out the other 4.
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