We had a sweat into the back nine at last week's Travelers Championship after betting Akshay Bhatia at 90-1 last Monday, but Scottie Scheffler prevailed once again for his sixth victory of the season as he outlasted Tom Kim in a playoff. Bhatia rose all the way up to +260, hopefully giving our readers great hedge opportunities if they tailed before the tournament started.
With the top golfers like Scheffler coming off of three straight weeks of major championships and signature events, the vast majority will take the next few weeks off before The Open Championship next month at Royal Troon. Consequently, the tournament is wide open this week with Tom Kim as the outright betting favorite at 15-1.
Because of this, the Rocket Mortgage Classic is always a good week to take some stabs at longshot winners and diversify your betting card. Detroit Golf Club has produced diverse leaderboards and some randomness near the top since it began hosting this tournament in 2019.
Of the first four winners of this event, three of them (Nate Lashley, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Davis) posted a combined 0-for-5 record on cuts made in their other appearances in Detroit before their win. Rickie Fowler had a little more success, but even he missed the cut at Detroit Golf Club in 2022 right before his win last season.
I'm not heavily factoring course history this week, but we are looking for bombers off the tee. The longest hitters typically have higher scoring upside here because there is very little penalty for error off the tee. This may be the most typical bomb-and-gauge course of the entire PGA Tour season.
The Rocket Mortgage Classic can often come down to a hot putter as well, but this is not a course where poor putters suddenly catch fire. Our key stat categories for the week are Driving Distance, Strokes Gained (SG): Putting and Par 5 Scoring.
Let's take a look at my 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic Sleeper Picks & Longshots below who have a chance to cash at 110-1 odds or longer.
2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic Sleeper Picks & Longshots
Chris Gotterup 110-1 (bet365)
We begin with one of the longest drivers on the planet.
Chris Gotterup is just 24 years old, but with the way he hits the ball off the tee, golf fans will be watching the University of Oklahoma product for many years to come if he can improve other aspects of his game.
Gotterup ranks sixth on Tour in Driving Distance at 312.2 yards per drive and is seventh in Ball Speed at just over 184 miles per hour. His game sets up perfectly for the Rocket Mortgage Classic because players pull driver here more than any other course on the schedule.
He is also capable of getting hot on the greens as he showed in his six-shot win at the Myrtle Beach Classic when he was third in the field in Stokes Gained: Putting. On the season, he ranks 50th on Tour in SG: Putting. With many of the best players in the world sitting out this week, that makes Gotterup one of the best in the field.
He is great value at 110-1 this week.
Jake Knapp 120-1 (FanDuel)
Knapp is our favorite regular in this weekly longshot column, and he has rewarded our faith multiple times already this year, with four top-10 finishes and a win at the Mexico Open.
The rookie has not been at his best in the last few weeks, but that just juices up his value in a wide open field this week. His ceiling remains the same, and his game sets up perfectly for a big week in Detroit because of his power off the tee and skill on the greens.
Knapp demolishes the ball off the tee, ranking 22nd on Tour in Driving Distance and 10th in Ball Speed at 182.92 miles per hour. He is also a Par 5 monster who converts a birdie or better 53% of the time on Par 5s, good for 31st on Tour this season.
The UCLA product ranks above average in SG: Putting as well, slotting in at 68th on the season. If he is making putts early this week, he will have a great chance to win.
Gary Woodland 175-1 (bet365)
Gary Woodland took some time away from golf due to some health scares following the removal of a brain tumor, but he is back and looking more and more like his old self.
After missing the cut in five of his first nine events this year, Woodland made four consecutive cuts before a miss at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 because his putter is starting to heat up. The 2019 U.S. Open winner lost strokes to the field putting in eight of his first nine events of 2024, but the flatstick has come to life since then as he has gained strokes on the greens in six consecutive tournaments.
This is perfect timing for the Rocket Mortgage Classic this week because he can pair that hot putter with his bombs off the tee. Woodland ranks seventh on Tour in Driving Distance and is sixth on Tour in Ball Speed at 184.21 miles per hour, so it should be bombs away for him this week.
The Kansas Jayhawk also ranks 53rd on Tour this year in Birdie or Better Conversion % at 33%, and if he drives it well this week, he will have a plethora of birdie looks at Detroit Golf Club.
