The Rocket Classic heads into the weekend with a three-way tie at the top, and Jensen breaks down the final two rounds at Detroit Golf Club with picks on Cameron Young, Rickie Fowler, and Jackson Koivun.
Rocket Classic Picks – Moving Day & Final Round
Detroit Golf Club, Detroit, Michigan
Saturday, August 1 – Sunday, August 2, 2026
Purse: $10 million ($1.8 million to the winner)
Two rounds down.
Two to go.
And I’ve got picks for the weekend.
First, some context.
This is the eighth and FINAL Rocket Classic. After this year, the tournament’s gone. Which is either sad or completely irrelevant depending on how much you care about the PGA Tour’s second-to-last regular season event held in Detroit in July.
I lean toward the second one.
But hey, one last chance for these guys to shoot 22-under and take home $1.8 million from the good people at Rocket Mortgage.
Here’s what we’ve got.
Detroit Golf Club just got a Tyler Rae restoration. They shortened it. They changed it from a par 72 to a par 70. They added bunkers. They tried to make it harder.
It didn’t work.
Peter Malnati opened Thursday with a 61, one off the course record. Cameron Young shot a 61 of his own on Friday. Michael Brennan made EIGHT consecutive birdies. And 73 players made the cut with all of them within seven shots of the lead.
So much for making it harder.
Through 36 holes, we’ve got a three-way tie at the top at 10-under:
Cameron Young (69-61)
Patrick Cantlay (64-66)
Patrick Fishburn (66-66)
One shot back at T4 are Rickie Fowler (63-68) and Matt Wallace (68-64).
Two shots back is Xander Schauffele.
Then a pile of guys within seven shots.
The weather forecast for the weekend? Saturday’s 89 degrees with a 38% chance of rain, Sunday’s more of the same. Nothing that should slow anyone down.
Onto the picks.
Favorite: Cameron Young
Young is the man to beat.
He’s world number 3.
He’s got two wins this year (The Players Championship and the Cadillac Championship.)
He’s got a solo 2nd at The Open two weeks ago where he pushed Ryan Fox to the final putt.
And he just shot a bogey-free 61 on Friday to vault 68 spots up the leaderboard.
Here’s the thing about Young at Detroit Golf Club – he doesn’t NEED course history, but he has it anyway. He was runner-up here in 2022 and T6 in 2024. That’s two top-10s in three appearances at this venue.
Young himself said after his 61 that the greens were “beautiful” in the morning and that he “had a 10-footer for birdie on pretty much every hole.” That’s the kind of quote you love to hear from a guy in the final pairing on Saturday.
The concern? He’s got Patrick Cantlay right next to him on the leaderboard and Rickie Fowler chasing hard behind him. This isn’t a coronation – it’s a fight.
But Young’s the guy to bet on if you want to lay a shorter price.
Mid-Range Pick: Rickie Fowler
Buy Rickie Fowler.
He’s one shot back at -9.
He’s the ONLY past Rocket Classic champion in the field. He won here in 2023.
And – here’s the fun part – the 2023 Rocket Classic was his LAST career win.
Read that again. His last PGA Tour victory came AT THIS VENUE. If there’s a place on the PGA Tour where this guy is going to break out of his three-year winless slump, it’s Detroit Golf Club.
The Fowler course history at Detroit Golf Club shows he can get to red numbers here without much effort. His opening 63 on Thursday had eight birdies and an eagle. His Friday 68 was the result of three back-nine bogeys – one from a three-putt, one from thigh-high fescue to a greenside bunker. Take those two mental errors away and he’s tied for the lead.
Fowler said after Friday’s round, “A lot of good stuff today and nice to be in a good spot for the weekend.”
I love this pick. He’s playing well. He’s on a course where he wins. And he’s got two rounds to fire at pins.
Longshot: Jackson Koivun
Koivun is six shots back at -4.
Ordinarily that’s too far back to consider on a Saturday. But hear me out.
Last week Jackson Koivun won the 3M Open. That was his first career PGA Tour victory. He’s 21 years old and he’s playing the best golf of his life.
Guys who just won on Tour have a very different mentality than guys who haven’t. The pressure’s off. The confidence is up. And Koivun’s game is EXACTLY suited for what Detroit Golf Club is asking for this week – hit fairways, hit greens, make putts. It’s the same skill set that just won him a tournament in Minnesota.
Six shots back with 36 holes to play at a course that keeps giving up 61s? That’s not impossible. Cameron Young was six shots back after Round 1 and now he’s tied for the lead. If a guy can go six shots the wrong way, another guy can go six shots the right way.
Koivun tees off at 9:00 a.m. ET Saturday, meaning he’ll get those pristine morning greens Young was raving about. If he can go 62-63 to close the tournament, he’s got a real shot at back-to-back wins.
That’s the kind of story you don’t want to miss out on when the odds are still triple digits.
My Plays
Cameron Young to win (favorite play)
Rickie Fowler to win (mid-range play)
Jackson Koivun to win (longshot play)
If you’re playing top-5 or top-10 markets, Fowler and Koivun both look great at those numbers too.
Good luck to everyone playing this weekend.
And to the Rocket Classic – thanks for eight years of low scores. See ya, Detroit.
