The PGA TOUR closes out its Detroit run at the Rocket Classic, and the golf course players show up to this week is not the one they have been attacking since 2019. Detroit Golf Club now plays as a par 70 at 7,328 yards after a sixteen million dollar Tyler Rae restoration that turned the 7th and 17th into long par 4s, deepened the bunkering and replaced water with native fescue. Course history is worth less than usual here.
Below is the full FTA Sims breakdown for DraftKings and FanDuel: golfer tiers with EAT, PIVOT and FADE verdicts, win and finish probabilities, ownership leverage, the AM and PM wave picture, and four sample builds.
Rocket Classic DFS Picks and Tournament Breakdown
Full DraftKings and FanDuel breakdown for the Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club. Golfer tiers with EAT, PIVOT and FADE verdicts, win and finish probabilities from FTA Sims, ownership leverage, and four sample builds.
Read the course before you read the course history. Detroit Golf Club is a par 70 this year, not the par 72 it has played since 2019. A sixteen million dollar Tyler Rae restoration turned the 7th and 17th from par 5s into long par 4s at 505 and 537 yards, deepened the bunkering, expanded the greens and replaced water with native fescue. Two par 5s remain where there were four. Anyone leaning on course history from previous editions is reading a different golf course.
The Chalk Is Actually Good This Week
Normally this section names the popular play the field is overrating. Not this week. All 6 of the six most owned golfers on DraftKings clear their own salary tier on both projected value and make cut percentage, which means there is no obvious chalk to fade. That changes how you build: when the popular plays are correctly priced, leverage has to come from the golfers nobody is on rather than from fading the ones everybody is on.
The most owned golfer on the slate is Patrick Cantlay at 33.6 percent, and he projects at 9.56 points per thousand against a tier median of 9.2. He is expensive and popular and still correctly priced.
Studs
| Golfer | Salary DK / FD | Proj DK / FD | Own | Value | Cut% | Tee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cameron Young EAT | $10,500 / $12,600 | 96.7 / 105.1 | 27.3% | 9.20 | 80% | 12:54 PM |
| Xander Schauffele PIVOT | $10,200 / $11,900 | 91.4 / 99.2 | 17.1% | 8.96 | 77% | 7:44 AM |
| Si Woo Kim EAT | $9,600 / $11,400 | 90.3 / 98.2 | 23.8% | 9.41 | 77% | 7:55 AM |
| Chris Gotterup | $9,800 / $12,100 | 89.6 / 97.2 | 20.1% | 9.14 | 75% | 7:44 AM |
| Patrick Cantlay EAT | $9,100 / $11,100 | 87.0 / 94.3 | 33.6% | 9.56 | 74% | 1:05 PM |
| Jackson Koivun | $9,400 / $11,800 | 85.8 / 93.0 | 15.7% | 9.13 | 72% | 7:33 AM |
Mid Range
| Golfer | Salary DK / FD | Proj DK / FD | Own | Value | Cut% | Tee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Griffin EAT | $8,900 / $10,700 | 84.5 / 91.7 | 23.7% | 9.50 | 72% | 12:54 PM |
| J.J. Spaun EAT | $8,700 / $10,500 | 84.2 / 91.2 | 32.0% | 9.68 | 72% | 12:54 PM |
| Jake Knapp PIVOT | $8,800 / $10,600 | 79.8 / 86.2 | 9.4% | 9.07 | 68% | 1:05 PM |
| Ryan Gerard | $8,600 / $10,400 | 79.7 / 86.2 | 11.2% | 9.27 | 67% | 8:06 AM |
| Harris English PIVOT | $8,500 / $10,200 | 78.7 / 85.0 | 8.5% | 9.26 | 67% | 1:05 PM |
| Akshay Bhatia | $8,400 / $10,300 | 78.7 / 85.0 | 10.3% | 9.37 | 67% | 7:55 AM |
Value
| Golfer | Salary DK / FD | Proj DK / FD | Own | Value | Cut% | Tee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jordan L. Smith EAT | $7,200 / $8,900 | 74.3 / 80.0 | 26.3% | 10.32 | 62% | 12:32 PM |
| Mac Meissner EAT | $7,300 / $9,000 | 74.2 / 79.9 | 20.2% | 10.16 | 63% | 1:27 PM |
| Nick Taylor EAT | $7,200 / $8,500 | 72.0 / 77.4 | 11.9% | 10.00 | 61% | 8:06 AM |
| Doug Ghim EAT | $7,400 / $9,100 | 72.0 / 77.3 | 8.1% | 9.73 | 60% | 8:28 AM |
| Michael Kim EAT | $7,200 / $9,200 | 71.8 / 77.2 | 8.9% | 9.98 | 60% | 7:11 AM |
| Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen EAT | $7,400 / $8,700 | 71.8 / 77.2 | 6.1% | 9.71 | 60% | 2:11 PM |
Probability Board
Win, top five, top ten, top twenty and make cut probabilities from FTA Sims for the twelve highest projected golfers in the field.
| Golfer | DK Salary | Win | Top 5 | Top 10 | Top 20 | Make Cut |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cameron Young | $10,500 | 7% | 24.3% | 37.6% | 53.5% | 80% |
| Xander Schauffele | $10,200 | 4% | 18.2% | 29.7% | 46.2% | 77% |
| Si Woo Kim | $9,600 | 4% | 16.5% | 27.5% | 44.6% | 77% |
| Chris Gotterup | $9,800 | 4% | 18.1% | 29.0% | 45.0% | 75% |
| Patrick Cantlay | $9,100 | 3% | 13.6% | 23.6% | 39.5% | 74% |
| Jackson Koivun | $9,400 | 3% | 13.9% | 23.7% | 38.0% | 72% |
| Russell Henley | $9,200 | 2% | 12.1% | 21.4% | 36.6% | 73% |
| Wyndham Clark | $9,300 | 3% | 13.7% | 23.4% | 37.8% | 72% |
| Ben Griffin | $8,900 | 2% | 12.6% | 22.3% | 38.3% | 72% |
| J.J. Spaun | $8,700 | 3% | 11.7% | 20.8% | 35.8% | 72% |
| Hideki Matsuyama | $9,000 | 2% | 11.2% | 19.3% | 34.0% | 71% |
| Jake Knapp | $8,800 | 2% | 9.9% | 18.3% | 31.1% | 68% |
Leverage Plays
Top twenty probability divided by projected ownership. These are the golfers whose finishing upside is furthest ahead of the roster share the field is giving them. All of them are longshots by definition, so treat them as tournament dart throws rather than core plays.
| Golfer | DK Salary | Top 20 | Own | Leverage | Cut% | Tee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chandler Blanchet | $6,500 | 8.4% | 0.5% | 16.6x | 43% | 2:00 PM |
| Karl Vilips | $6,600 | 8.2% | 0.5% | 16.0x | 44% | 8:17 AM |
| Neal Shipley | $6,700 | 10.2% | 0.7% | 14.5x | 43% | 8:50 AM |
| Garrick Higgo | $6,500 | 9.1% | 0.7% | 14.0x | 44% | 12:43 PM |
| Tom Hoge | $6,700 | 8.1% | 0.6% | 13.6x | 44% | 1:27 PM |
| Mark Hubbard | $6,400 | 9.0% | 0.7% | 13.5x | 44% | 7:11 AM |
Waves
The draw is close to neutral. The morning wave holds 68 golfers at a median projection of 64.1, the afternoon 72 at 64.2. There is no meaningful edge in either half before weather, so build across both unless the forecast splits them. Worth noting that the cash builds below drift heavily into the afternoon purely on price, which is a concentration you take on knowingly rather than by accident.
Sample Builds
DK Cash
| Golfer | Salary | Proj | Own | Tee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cameron Young | $10,500 | 96.7 | 27.3% | 12:54 PM |
| Patrick Cantlay | $9,100 | 87.0 | 33.6% | 1:05 PM |
| J.J. Spaun | $8,700 | 84.2 | 32.0% | 12:54 PM |
| Corey Conners | $7,500 | 75.1 | 20.4% | 12:54 PM |
| Jordan L. Smith | $7,200 | 74.3 | 26.3% | 12:32 PM |
| Sungjae Im | $7,000 | 71.3 | 13.7% | 12:43 PM |
DK GPP
| Golfer | Salary | Proj | Own | Tee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cameron Young | $10,500 | 96.7 | 27.3% | 12:54 PM |
| Chris Gotterup | $9,800 | 89.6 | 20.1% | 7:44 AM |
| Davis Thompson | $7,700 | 73.8 | 7.2% | 8:17 AM |
| Ryo Hisatsune | $7,600 | 72.2 | 5.7% | 12:32 PM |
| Matt Wallace | $7,400 | 71.7 | 5.6% | 12:32 PM |
| Sungjae Im | $7,000 | 71.3 | 13.7% | 12:43 PM |
FD Cash
| Golfer | Salary | Proj | Own | Tee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Si Woo Kim | $11,400 | 98.2 | 28.9% | 7:55 AM |
| Patrick Cantlay | $11,100 | 94.3 | 26.4% | 1:05 PM |
| Ben Griffin | $10,700 | 91.7 | 24.7% | 12:54 PM |
| J.J. Spaun | $10,500 | 91.2 | 30.2% | 12:54 PM |
| Nick Taylor | $8,500 | 77.4 | 14.9% | 8:06 AM |
| Max McGreevy | $7,800 | 71.0 | 5.8% | 7:00 AM |
FD GPP
| Golfer | Salary | Proj | Own | Tee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cameron Young | $12,600 | 105.1 | 28.8% | 12:54 PM |
| Chris Gotterup | $12,100 | 97.2 | 18.9% | 7:44 AM |
| Ryan Gerard | $10,400 | 86.2 | 11.7% | 8:06 AM |
| Sungjae Im | $8,500 | 76.6 | 12.2% | 12:43 PM |
| Emiliano Grillo | $8,400 | 71.5 | 2.9% | 7:11 AM |
| Zecheng Dou | $8,000 | 71.5 | 5.1% | 1:49 PM |
Salaries and projections read DraftKings first and FanDuel second. Ownership is projected, not final, and moves through the week. Cut percentage is the probability of playing the weekend, which matters more in golf than any other DFS sport because a missed cut zeroes two of four rounds. Verify tee times and withdrawals before lock. For entertainment; 21+.