PGA DFS Core Plays: Rocket Classic
Top-ranked DFS player, Notorious, breaks down his favorite PGA DFS picks at various price ranges on DraftKings and FanDuel for the Rocket Classic. Which golfers should you be building your lineups around? Find out below!
While I didn’t have much exposure to Jackson Koivun last week, it was still a profitable week at the 3M Open thanks to Scottie Scheffler, Ben Kohles, and Zac Blair. We now turn our attention to the Rocket Classic, which has always been a bomb-and-gouge event (this is where Bryson DeChambeau broke the ShotLink machines because he was driving it too close to the green). However, Detroit Golf Club has undergone a complete restoration, so it should play much differently than the course we’ve seen in the past.
We don’t have any big favorites on the betting board this week, which means we get much softer pricing on the week as a whole. It’s tough when Scottie Scheffler is in the field, because your decision on him will automatically dictate what the rest of your lineup is going to look like. With the most-expensive golfer (Cameron Young) priced at $10,500 on DraftKings and $12,600 on FanDuel, roster construction is wide open this week.
Editor’s Note: For more tournament notes, recent form, and course notes for the Rocket Classic, check out this week’s PGA DFS First Look.
Let’s talk about Detroit Golf Club. In the past, this event has been about hitting it as far as humanly possible and making as many birdies as possible. Very little strategy went into play on the course. However, the course has undergone a major restoration since the last time we’ve seen it. The course has changed from a par 72 to a par 70 and now measures 7,328 yards on the scorecard. The 7th and 17th holes were converted from par 5s into par 4s.
All 18 greens were restored. They all have fresh bentgrass and are slightly bigger than they used to be. The greens now average 6,700 square feet. A total of 20 bunkers were added to the course, and many of the fairway bunkers now sit in the landing areas of long drives. This has historically been one of the best tracks for bombers on TOUR. I still expect Driving Distance to play a factor, but I think approach and around-the-green play will be more important than they have been in the past.
With so many changes to the course, I’m not sure how much stock to put into course history. I currently have it weighted at 2% in my model, which is the lowest of any event so far this season. I expect the course to play much tougher than we’ve seen in past editions of this event. Ultimately, I think a strong tee-to-green game is what matters most this week.
Top PGA DFS Picks on DraftKings & FanDuel for the Rocket Classic
Core Plays
Jake Knapp
DraftKings: $8,800 / pOWN%: 16%
FanDuel: $10,600 / pOWN%: 15%
Course History L5 Years: 4, 31
Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 32
Strokes Gained: Approach: 10
Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green: 105
Strokes Gained: Putting: 14
Weighted Proximity: 27
Expected Hole Performance: 6
I’ve been waiting and waiting for Knapp to have a decent week after struggling for a long stretch due to a thumb injury. That decent week finally happened at the 3M Open. He put together a 9-under final round to finish in the top 15 and gained over 10 strokes ball striking for the week. After that performance, he’s going to be my highest-owned golfer of the week at the Rocket Classic, which has always treated bombers well. Knapp is long off the tee and in the top 15 in this field in Strokes Gained: Approach and Strokes Gained: Putting. He’s also 6th in my Expected Hole Performance metric, which is based on the hole yardages at Detroit Golf Club.
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