DETROIT, Mich. — The scoring-friendly environment and healthy green grass at Detroit Golf Club is a welcome sight for PGA Tour golfer Min Woo Lee after grinding through Pinehurst No. 2 in his last event, the U.S. Open.
Lee finished 5 over in the U.S. Open then skipped the Traveler’s Championship last week to prepare for his first stop at the Rocket Mortgage Classic from his house in Las Vegas. Lee, a tour rookie ranked No. 64 in the FedEx Cup standings, is ready for the new environment on Detroit’s northside after grinding through one of the toughest courses on the Tour this season.
“The course looks amazing,” said Lee, an Australian native. “Coming from the U.S. Open, it’s a bit greener so it’s quite nice. Hopefully the weather holds.”
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Lee, one of the top-ranked players in the 156-player field set to tee off Thursday, spoke to the media Tuesday after a torrential thunderstorm pounded the course with rain for most of the morning and partially delayed proceedings.
The thick rough and “luscious” greens, as Lee described them, received an extra amount of water two days before the tournament begins due to the two-hour thunderstorm. But the sea of green was a welcome sight for Lee, who spent the last fortnight training in the unrelenting Vegas heat after playing a challenging and dried-out Pinehurst.
“If we played (Pinehurst) every week, I’d probably have no hair by now,” the 25-year-old rookie said. “It’s nice to just come to a course that’s really green and luscious.”
The relative ease of Detroit Golf Club’s setup leads to a lower scoring environment for the Rocket Mortgage Classic compared to some other PGA Tour stops. Rickie Fowler won the 2023 tournament at 24 under after surviving a three-man playoff and 2022 winner Tony Finau shot 26 under.
“I find making birdies fun; bogeys aren’t fun,” Lee said.
The key to going low, he said, was to be accurate off the tee with his driver. Despite not playing here before, the scouting report Lee received from the Tour and other players he’s talked to said low scores are possible if you can be aggressive and straight with the biggest club in the bag.
“It’s a course where you can hit driver a lot and take advantage of a lot of corners,” Lee said. “I guess take advantage if you do hit driver well. Hopefully, I can do that this week.”
Willie Mack III won the John Shippen Invitational to earn his spot into the Rocket Mortgage Classic. (Photo: Jared Ramsey, Detroit Free Press)
Willie Mack III, the John Shippen Invitational winner and Flint native, says he will be ready for any conditions on the course after experiencing two different weather days in the 36-hole tournament he won last weekend, and seeing the wet course after the rain today.
“Just seeing those conditions and different aspects hopefully will help me this week,” Mack said. “I’m not sure about the plan this week but if it’s windy at least I know what clubs not to hit. I know it’s wet out, it’s not a firm course this week.”
Mack is making his second appearance in the Rocket Mortgage Classic and his ninth PGA Tour start after receiving a sponsor’s exemption. Mack’s previous appearance in 2021 was the first time he made the cut on Tour. He hopes to take advantage of his course knowledge thanks to playing Detroit Golf Club “a million times” in his life and the quality golf he’s been playing recently, including the John Shippen win and qualifying for the U.S. Open to take advantage of his spot.
“I’ve been playing well,” Mack said. “It’s just when you get these opportunities, I gotta keep and play well. Not let these opportunities go to waste.”
