WHILE most of us mere mortals are worrying about the rising cost of living, with interest rates sending mortgages sky-high, those lucky enough to ply their trade on the PGA Tour have no such worries.
Keegan Bradley pocketed the winner’s share of a $20 million prize-fund at the Travelers Championship on Sunday night, holding off a chasing pack that included our headline pick Patrick Cantlay to seal a sixth tour title.
While most of those in contention in Connecticut take this week off before turning attentions towards The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool next month, Bradley makes the journey to tee it up again in the aptly-named Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit from Thursday afternoon.
He will do so as a 28/1 chance, double the odds of defending champion Tony Finau, who led his rivals a merry dance at Detroit Golf Club a year ago, putting on a tee-to-green clinic to run up a 26-under total and win by five shots.
Finau was in a golden spell of form at that stage, and has claimed four victories in the last year, but his game has tailed off a bit of late and he will hope a return to the scene of past glories can inspire the first successful defence of his career.
He is jostling for favouritism in Detroit with a resurgent Rickie Fowler, with both available at 14/1 in a field that is a step down from the last couple of weeks but still contains a number of big names, with Justin Thomas, Max Homa and Collin Morikawa also in the mix.
It is a measure of Fowler’s resurgence that he is even close to going off favourite for a PGA Tour event, having climbed to 35th in the world rankings on the back of a host of consistent performances.
Going into the Rocket Mortgage last term he was outside the top 150, but nine top-20s in his last 10 outings underline how well he is swinging.
That said, only once has he really been in the hunt during that run, leading going into the final day at the US Open before stumbling for a share of fifth.
He will probably win somewhere soon enough, but there is no value in 14/1 here, while I can look past Finau despite his affinity with the venue.
The latter’s win last term was based on remarkable play from tee-to-green, hitting 66 of 72 greens in regulation, and making only one bogey all week.
The scoring is likely to be very good again at the par 72 Detroit Golf Club, and while past winners Finau and Bryson DeChambeau are powerhouses, accuracy and quality approach play into small greens should be the key attributes.
To that end, it is definitely worth taking a chance on Morikawa at 18/1 as he seeks to end a PGA Tour win drought stretching back to the 2021 Open Championship.
He makes his Rocket Mortgage Classic debut this week on the back of a missed cut at the Travelers, but that doesn’t tell the full story as he fought back from an opening 74 with a Friday seven-under 63 to miss out on the weekend action by a shot.
Morikawa was 14th in the US Open the week before, and that 63 saw him hole a few putts, the only thing stopping him from contending again.
As always, his long game has been excellent, with only Scottie Scheffler ahead of him in approach play stats this term, while he is sixth from tee-to-green.
All it takes is for the putter to warm up even slightly to have Morikawa in the mix and he should relish the small putting surfaces in Detroit, so at 18/1 he appeals most of those towards the top of the betting.
Further down, I like the look of Aaron Rai as he too makes his first outing in the Rocket Mortgage, which is now in its fifth year.
The Englishman rarely catches the eye, but he does everything well and is high up on the tee-to-green standings on the PGA Tour.
Rai was third in the Canadian Open two starts ago, when he led the field from tee-to-green and was fourth in approach play, and backed that up with a very solid 24th in elevated company at the Travelers.
With the field dropping down a notch, this could be a chance for him to claim a first PGA Tour title and he ranks as great each-way value at 50/1 generally.
Finally, I’ll put up another European in Sepp Straka at 60/1 with Sky Bet.
The Austrian was eighth in this event in 2020 and has been showing signs that he could add to his one PGA Tour success soon enough.
He was seventh in the US PGA and 16th in classy company at The Memorial, while his long game was excellent over the weekend in the Travelers Championship.
A fine iron player, Straka might well go close in Detroit at big odds, and help put a few quid in our pockets to help fight rocketing costs.
ROCKET MORTGAGE CLASSIC SELECTIONS
Collin Morikawa, e/w, 18/1 (General);
Aaron Rai, e/w, 50/1 (Paddy Power);
Sepp Straka, e/w, 60/1 (Sky Bet)
