PGA Tour players welcomed by 'luscious' and wet course at Detroit Golf Club
The scoring-friendly environment and healthy green grass at Detroit Golf Club is a welcome sight for PGA Tour golfer Min Woo Lee after grinding through Pinehurst No. 2 in his previous event, the U.S. Open.
Lee finished 5-over in the U.S. Open then skipped the Travelers Championship last week to prepare for his first stop at the Rocket Mortgage Classic from home in Las Vegas. Lee, a tour rookie ranked No. 64 in the FedEx Cup standings, is ready for the new environment on Detroit’s northside after grinding through one of the toughest courses on the Tour this season.
FULL DETAILS:2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic: Here are the events this week at Detroit Golf Club
“The course looks amazing,” said Lee, a native of Australia. “Coming from the U.S. Open, it’s a bit greener so it’s quite nice. Hopefully the weather holds.”
Lee, one of the top-ranked players in the 156-player field set to tee off Thursday, spoke to the media Tuesday after a torrential thunderstorm pounded the course with rain for most of the morning and partially delayed proceedings.
The thick rough and “luscious” greens, as Lee described them, received an extra amount of water two days before the tournament begins due to the two-hour thunderstorm. But the sea of green was a welcome sight for Lee, who spent the last fortnight training in the unrelenting Vegas heat after playing a challenging and dried-out Pinehurst.
“If we played (Pinehurst) every week, I’d probably have no hair by now,” the 25-year-old rookie said. “It’s nice to just come to a course that’s really green and luscious."
The relative ease of Detroit Golf Club’s setup leads to a lower scoring environment for the Rocket Mortgage Classic compared to some other PGA Tour stops. Rickie Fowler won the 2023 tournament at 24-under after prevailing in a three-man playoff, and 2022 winner Tony Finau shot 26-under.
“I find making birdies fun; bogies aren’t fun,” Lee said.
The key to going low, he said, was to be accurate off the tee with his driver. Despite not playing in Detroit before, the scouting report Lee received from the Tour and other players he talked to said low scores are possible if you can be aggressive and straight with the biggest club in the bag.
“It’s a course where you can hit driver a lot and take advantage of a lot of corners,” Lee said. “I guess take advantage if you do hit driver well. Hopefully, I can do that this week.”
Willie Mack III, the Flint native who qualified via the John Shippen Invitational, said he will be ready for any conditions on the course after experiencing two different weather days in the 36-hole tournament he won last weekend, and seeing the wet course after the rain today.
“Just seeing those conditions and different aspects hopefully will help me this week,” Mack said. “I’m not sure about the plan this week but if it’s windy at least I know what clubs not to hit. I know it’s wet out, it’s not a firm course this week.”
Mack is making his second appearance in the Rocket Mortgage Classic — he played on a sponsor's exemption in 2021 — and his ninth on the PGA Tour. Mack's 2021 appearance was the first time he made the cut on Tour. He hopes to take advantage of his course knowledge thanks to playing Detroit Golf Club “a million times” in his life and the quality golf he’s been playing recently, including the John Shippen win and qualifying for the U.S. Open to take advantage of his spot.
“I’ve been playing well,” Mack said. “It’s just when you get these opportunities, I gotta keep and play well. Not let these opportunities go to waste.”