Low-town repeat: Tony Finau, PGA hit Detroit thinking '30 under'

 

[June 29, 2023]  If last week's birdie parade at the Travelers Championship was not your cup of tea, avert your eyes from the Rocket Mortgage Classic starting Thursday at Detroit Golf Club.

"I think I'm pretty much calling 30 under this week just because of the conditions," defending champion Tony Finau said of the potential winning score.

Keegan Bradley won the Travelers on Sunday at par-70 TPC River Highlands with a 23-under 257, which could have been even lower had he not gone 3-over for his final six holes. A whopping 44 players finished the tournament at least 10 under par.

Detroit Golf Club, hosting this PGA Tour event for the fifth time, is a par-72 and similarly gettable. Finau went 26 under last year to beat Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Young and Canadian Taylor Pendrith by five; the winning numbers the first three years were 25, 23 and 18 under.

"When Nate Lashley won (in 2019), he was able to get to 25," Finau said. "Both years were pretty soft, but they started to get firm on the weekend because we didn't experience any rain. It's a golf course clearly you can score on so with the conditions, barring any wind, I do think you're going to have to shoot 28 to 30 under."

The course did experience rain last weekend -- it was battered by a severe storm that felled several trees around the course. The grounds crew focused on tree removal Monday, and tournament executive director Jason Langwell said the club was "really fortunate" there was no further damage that would delay the tournament. All holes except No. 10 were open for players to practice on Tuesday.

The field includes 11 players who have won on tour this season, but World No. 9 Max Homa is the highest-ranked golfer playing as the schedule returns to standard, non-"designated" events for a few weeks. Homa and Finau are joined in Detroit by Bradley, Rickie Fowler and South Korea's Tom Kim and Sungjae Im.

Two-time major champions Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas, two big names trying to turn around their season before it's too late, will aim to take advantage of the easy track in Detroit.

Morikawa, 26, hasn't won a tournament of any kind since hoisting the Claret Jug at the 2021 Open Championship and dropped to 20th in the world ranking. He has three missed cuts and an injury withdrawal (back spasms at the Memorial Tournament) over his past seven starts.

Morikawa is safely in the FedEx Cup mix. Thomas is not.

The top 70 in FedEx Cup points at the end of the regular season qualify for the first playoff event. Thomas is on the bubble at No. 66.

The 30-year-old shot four forgettable rounds in missing the cut at the Memorial and the U.S. Open, but he found a higher gear at the Travelers, going 64-62-67 over his final three rounds to tie for ninth.

Thomas, whose last victory came at the 2022 PGA Championship, added the Rocket Mortgage Classic to his schedule in early June.

"I'm not in a position right now where I can't play," Thomas said after his final round at the Travelers. "I'm very, very fortunate this many years into my career I've never had to add events at the end of the year for Playoff purposes, but that's where I'm at, and I'm just trying to make the most of it.

"...I've felt very close for a while. Just have had literally nothing to show for it. And you never know. I'm one round away tomorrow from kind of completely changing my focus and outlook on the year and the rest of the year."

--Field Level Media

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