{"id":43538,"date":"2026-07-28T17:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T17:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/43538\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T17:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T17:14:13","slug":"2026-rocket-classic-first-round-leader-picks-bets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/43538\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Rocket Classic First Round Leader Picks, Bets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Rocket Classic is the next stop on the PGA TOUR. Jackson Koivun picked up his first win on the PGA TOUR last week, showing there can be some great stories during these quiet weeks leading up to the FedEx Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is a look at the best <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsbook.draftkings.com\/leagues\/golf\/rocket-classic?category=tournament&amp;subcategory=round\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">first-round leader bets<\/a> to make for the event on DraftKings Sportsbook.<\/p>\n<p>Rocket Classic: First Round Leader Picks<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is expected to be the final Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club. However, the tournament is going out on a strong note. The field is easily the strongest in the tournament\u2019s history. Cam Young headlines the field, along with Xander Schauffele, Chris Gotterup and U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark. Last week\u2019s big winner, Jackson Koivun, is also in the field. The defending champion is Aldrich Potgieter, who is back to try to defend his title.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Detroit Golf Club is a par-70 course that ranges 7,328 yards. This course has seen a major renovation since last year\u2019s Rocket Classic. The course saw a restoration that brought it much closer to its original Donald Ross design, which is expected to make the course much more difficult than it has played the past few years. The Rocket Classic was always considered a bomber\u2019s delight, made clear by Potgieter\u2019s win last year. However, while more strategy will be involved and the greens will be more challenging, it is still a long course, so long and straight off the tee should still win the day.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sportsbook.draftkings.com\/leagues\/golf\/rocket-classic?category=tournament&amp;subcategory=round\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Cameron Young FRL (+2500)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cameron Young is the betting favorite to win this week, and for good reason. His game sets up perfectly for the Rocket Classic, whether it plays like 2025, plays much harder or is somewhere in between. If the bombers still retain a massive advantage at the Detroit Golf Club, Young is one of the best drivers of the golf ball in the world. His approach play is also excellent, and he should set himself up with good birdie chances regularly. Young ranks seventh on the PGA TOUR in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green. If he gets hot, he has a great chance of leading after the opening round in Detroit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It has been a special season for Young. He finally broke through and won on the PGA TOUR for the first time last year. In 2026, Young has won two big events, the Cadillac Championship and THE PLAYERS. Young had cooled off a bit, but bounced back brilliantly with a runner-up finish at The Open Championship in his most recent start. In three career starts at the Rocket Classic, Young has two top-10 finishes, including a runner-up appearance in 2022. Young has a great chance to set the tone early and lead after Thursday.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sportsbook.draftkings.com\/leagues\/golf\/rocket-classic?category=tournament&amp;subcategory=round\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Michael Thorbjornsen FRL (+5600)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Michael Thorbjornsen is a strong value pick at the board, currently 56\/1 to lead after the first round. Thorbjornsen is a streaky player, but when he gets hot, he can compete with the best of the best. That was evident at the WM Phoenix Open this year, where he finished T3. Thorbjornsen had a great showing a couple of weeks ago as well, finishing T7 in a loaded field at the Genesis Scottish Open.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the type of course where Thorbjornsen can thrive, as he hits the ball a mile off the tee. Last year, Thorbjornsen finished T4 at this event. That was partially thanks to an excellent opening round of 65, his best round of the week. That is no surprise, as Thorbjornsen thrives in opening rounds. He ranks 13th on the PGA TOUR in first-round scoring average this season, with Thursdays being his strongest scoring round of the week. If Thorbjornsen can roll in a few putts, he could go very low on Thursday in Detroit for the second straight year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rocket Classic is the next stop on the PGA TOUR. Jackson Koivun picked up his first win&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[685,1272],"class_list":["post-43538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cameron-young","tag-cameron-young","tag-rail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}