Rocket Mortgage Classic 2024 scores, results: Akshay Bhatia leads, Rickie Fowler lurks after Round 1
The leaderboard at the Rocket Mortgage Classic wasn’t filled with as many big names as those who made it to last weekend’s Travelers Championship, but one of the stars of last week’s event continued his great play at Detroit Golf Club on Thursday to lead after 18 holes of play.
Akshay Bhatia, who played in the final group with Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim a week ago, shot an 8-under 64 in Detroit to move one shot ahead of Taylor Montgomery and Michael Kim.
The trend is going well for Bhatia, who has finished T22, T16 and T5 in his last three starts.
“I’ve been playing well the last three weeks,” he said. “I feel like the result wasn’t what I wanted, but I played pretty solid. You know, I’ve been there for over 40 holes, I would say, in the last couple of weeks.” It’s just that I’m having some problems on Saturday or Sunday. I’m just trying to figure that out. It’s great to be in this position.
It’s great to be in that position, but it’s not great to try to hold off the guys Bhatia will be facing. Rickie Fowler, Will Zalatoris, Cameron Young and Nick Dunlap are four of those chasing the second round.
Let’s take a closer look at Round 1 and see what happens over the next few days of play.
Leader
1. Akshay Bhatia (-8)
I’m shocked to see that Bhatia is currently 13th in the US Presidents Cup standings and will definitely move into the top 12 with a win or anything close to it this week. He had a great year and is now playing in famous baseball leagues with the likes of Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry and even Wyndham Clark.
It’s a big step up from where he was a year ago — essentially an average PGA Tour player — and a revelation for a 22-year-old who has two wins and is hunting for a third.
Other candidates
T2. Taylor Montgomery, Michael Kim (-7)
T4. Aaron Rai, Eric Cole, Rickie Fowler, Will Zalatoris, Matthias Schmid (-6)
T9. Cameron Young, Nick Dunlap, Ben Kohles, Ben Silverman, Neal Shipley (-5)
The Rocket Mortgage Classic has a short but fine history of producing big-name winners. I’m not sure Cameron Young necessarily fits the former mold, but he certainly fits the latter. Young shot a 5-under 67 on Thursday, dominating from tee to green.
This continues a fascinating run that saw him shoot 59-66 last weekend at the Travelers Championship and quickly contend at TPC River Highlands. Can Young finally break through for his first PGA Tour win before the Open Championship in a few weeks, where he has had a lot of success and played quite well in his last few matches?
I said yes, but I also thought that maybe Young hadn’t gotten over it yet.
“I mean, it’s definitely a nice thing to have [a 59] “It’s in your back pocket,” Young said. “If you start to feel like things aren’t going right, like, ‘Hey, I shot a 59 not too long ago, so it’s in there somewhere.’ Yeah, honestly, I was struggling through last Thursday and I kept saying it was going to be pretty tough the other way at some point. Yeah, I feel like I’ve been playing decent golf for a while and to score a little bit better and see a little bit of a bounce is really promising.”
The Real Nick Dunlap
After winning the American Express as an amateur, Nick Dunlap played some of the worst golf of his life. He missed cuts, finished 80th, T53 and everywhere in between. The talent was still there, but for a 20-year-old making his PGA Tour debut, the learning curve was steep.
It looks like Dunlap is slowly starting to put the pieces together. He finished T12 at the Memorial. He missed the cut at the US Open and played poorly at the Travelers, but on Thursday he opened with a 67 at Detroit Golf Club.
“I didn’t start off well the last few weeks,” he explained. “Today the Swing was really nice coming out early in the morning. I drove it really well, ironed it beautifully. Some speed work around the greens, but overall, I’m very, very impressed Imagining the way I move around today.”
The curve is tough for anyone who turns pro, and it’s even tougher for someone who almost accidentally turns pro. It’s good to see him regain his confidence and his game in six months instead of six years. Because things can go wrong quickly in pro golf, but Dunlap seems to have righted the ship.
Rocket Mortgage Classic 2024 Updated Odds, Picks
- Akshay Bhatia: October 33
- Cameron Young: 10-1
- Aaron Rai: 11-1
- Will Zalatoris: 12-1
- Rickie Fowler: 16-1
- Lee Min Woo: 16-1
- Michael Kim: 16-1
Honestly, I don’t like any of these numbers. Give me Dunlap at 35-1 over all of them. If I had to pick someone here, I’d probably pick Young at 10-1 over all of the others, although I’m intrigued by Zalatoris at 12-1 (although I think he’s generally better on harder courses).
