‘Dawgs on Tour: Rollin’ It In Rock City

A quick peek at how the boys in Red and Black fared in New England last week:

Kevin Kisner withdrew at some point on Thursday. I didn’t see if he actually started his 1st round or not. Anyone have any info out there on Kiz?
Brendon Todd opened with 65, but a 73 Friday doomed him to miss the cut by 2.
Davis Thompson was also slamming his trunk in the parking lot Friday afternoon after 67-72 and just 1 off the cut line.
Harris English made the cut with 1 to spare, shot even par on the weekend and finished T60. $44,600.
Sepp Straka made the cut on the number (-4), shot 68-66 and climbed all the way up to T38. He gets $83,000.
Greyson Sigg shoots a very consistent 66-66-67-67 for 14 under par. That is good for T19 and $245,800.
Russell Henley tied with Sigg, via a slightly different route. 69-65-69-63 also nets him $245,800.

And Brian Harman flirted with the leaderboard after opening 66-66, but really made up some ground on Saturday and Sunday with consecutive rounds of 64. Thanks to an early swoon by Chez Reavie and a late swoon by Patrick Cantlay, he ends up tied for 2nd place. I don’t know what he wanted more: the $1,748,000 in prize money or the 248 Fed Ex Cup points (that pushed him back into the top 20 and pretty much locking him for the postseason).

Tournament: Rocket Mortgage Classic, June 29-July 2, 2023

Course: Detroit Golf Club, par 72, 7,370 yards. Just north of the Canadian border in Detroit proper (because of the weird international border through Lake Erie).

Purse: $8.8 million in total, $1.584 million to the winner

Defending Champ: Tony Finau. The Samoan Utahn (Utah-ite??) won in consecutive weeks by punishing the defenseless Detroit Golf Club, setting records and cruising through the weekend. How he generates that much power with such a short backswing is a mystery to this old guy. But hey, he’s a nice guy and he finished first.

Fun Fact: This is the flattest course on the PGA Tour. From the highest to lowest point, there is only a 43 foot difference. A tee shot on #10 at Augusta National would be more than that, and that doesn’t even get to the bottom of the hill. Kapalua (early January Tournament of Champions) probably exceeds that on half their holes.

TV Times: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS)

‘Dawgs in the Field: 6. Chris Kirk, Davis Thompson, Sepp Straka, Brian Harman, Brendon Todd, Greyson Sigg.

You may be aware that there is less than 60 days until the return of college football. While that brings joy, it also brings to mind that the end of the PGA Tour season is approaching just as quickly. So as to not compete with the eyeballs that football attracts, the FedEx Cup playoffs wrap up before Labor Day.

There are 6 tournaments left in the season, then two playoff events plus the Tour Championship. If you want to play in that post-season, you’d better be in the top 70 in FedEx Cup points. And there’s no better time that this week.

Coming off the US Open and another designated event, many top players are taking a bit of a rest before the home stretch. The Rorys’, Schefflers, and Rahms of the world get some family time and leave open the door of opportunity in the form of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Fan favorites will be there like Justin Thomas, Max Homa, and Rickie Fowler. And these 6 former Bulldogs.

It’s a typical Donald Ross design with lots of undulations on the greens, and tree-lined fairways. Recent bad weather appears to have downed several trees on property, but I don’t have details on how it will affect play. And playing a par 72 course these days at less than 7,400 yards will lead to low scores under par. I just hope it’s a ‘Dawg sitting on top at the end of the day. As always...

GO ‘DAWGS!!!