The action continues over Fourth of July weekend, with plenty of stories abuzz for Round 3 of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Surprisingly, three of the four highest-priced golfers coming into this week wound up missing the cut. Joaquin Niemann and Max Homa are a few of the notables in the mix, but it’s still anyone’s tournament. With conditions expected to get easier as the week goes on, there will be plenty of great scores come Sunday. Let’s dig into the action and try to pinpoint who might be shooting a few of those low rounds.
Be sure to check out Rocket Mortgage Classic Round 3 Awesemo’s expert PGA DFS Showdown projections and ownership.
PGA DFS Showdown Picks: Rocket Mortgage Classic Round 3
Previous Round Recap
Morning Wave
If your rostered Bryson DeChambeau in all of your lineups, you may be feeling a bit sour this afternoon. After starting the day with seven pars and two birdies, he looked poised to make a run up the leaderboard. However, an unforced error (resulting in a bogey on No.10) would be too much for DeChambeau to handle. The next few holes wouldn’t go any better and he wound up missing the cut by two strokes. Webb Simpson was just in front of Bryson, and he also fell victim to the cut.
Notables
Joaquin Niemann would back up his seven-under 65 with a three-under 69, continuing his hot putting by gaining over 1.25 strokes on the day. Troy Merritt and Chris Kirk would also join the hot putting from the morning wave, both gaining over 2.3 strokes. Although, both of them lost strokes on their approaches. Tom Lewis would also put together his second straight solid day, also losing strokes on the approach. He did, however, gain 1.83 strokes putting, and that was good enough to put him in a tie for first thru Round 2.
Afternoon Wave
After DeChambeau and Simpson missed the cut, there weren’t too many other surprises. Most notably, Hideki Muatsyama withdrew after getting a positive test result for COVID-19 mid-round. Cameron Davis would be the golfer to get things going in the afternoon wave, not overnight leader Davis Thompson or Brandon Hagy. Each of them backed up on the day, shooting 73. Kevin Kisner continued his hot run of form, this time with his irons, gaining over three strokes.
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Round 2 Stat Recap
Through two rounds, here is out the statistics shape up:
Strokes Gained Tee to Green
- Jason Kokrak
- Cameron Davis
- Sean O’Hair
Kokrak projects as the second-highest on the slate, with 41.5 points. Click here to view the full field.
Strokes Gained Off the Tee
- Jason Kokrak
- Ryan Brehm
- Anirban Lahiri
- Matthew Wolff
Strokes Gained Approach
- Russell Knox
- Kevin Kisner
- Cameron Davis
- Micahel Gellerman
- Matthew Wolff
Strokes Gained Around the Green
- Sean O’Hair
- Tyler Duncan
- Doug Ghim*
Strokes Gained Putting
- Troy Merritt
- Joaquin Niemann
- Sung Kang
PGA DFS Showdown Picks: Slate Preview
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DraftKings
- DraftKings is offering $20,000 to first place and $80,000 guaranteed for the third-round slate.
Rocket Mortgage Classic PGA DFS Picks
With conditions expected to ease up throughout the weekend, scores will get even lower as the tournament progresses. Highlighting golfers on a hot run and finding success in different areas of strokes-gained will be the focus of tomorrow’s round.
PGA DFS Picks for Round 3 of The Rocket Mortgage Classic
- Sungjae Im ($8,700) Since my tweet over 36 hours ago, citing that I had a “Sungaje Im problem,” he proceeded to shoot nine-under in his next 27 holes. I’m not taking full credit for this resurgence, as all parts of his game seem to be clicking. Im has gained in all four facets in each of the first two rounds as he gradually makes his way up the leaderboard.
- Garrick Higgo ($8,800) After a brief two-week hiatus, Higgo is back and looking in fine form as he easily makes it thru to the weekend. He did struggle with his irons in Round 1, but the rest of his game was able to bail him out. In Round 2, the irons came back, but his putter deserted him a bit. With nothing to lose for the rest of the weekend, his go-for-broke attitude should yield plenty of birdie looks tomorrow.
- Danny Willett ($7,200) After a brief stroll through last year’s leaderboard at this event, Willets somehow finds his name in a tie for fourth. Willets is back again, and the only thing standing between him and the top of the leaderboard was a bad putting day on Friday. He gained in all other facets in each of the first two days. That gives me hope the putting can return over the weekend with his tee-to-green game in tact.
Sneaky Pick for the Round 2 Showdown
- Davis Thompson ($7,500) It’s good to have short-term memories in the PGA DFS realm. I’d like to try and jump on Thompson when most could fade him after a bad round. It’s always tough to follow up a great round, but it’s even tougher when it’s the competitive low score at the course! Nothing looked great today for Thompson, but it was really only his putter that betrayed him. Thompson still managed to gain off the tee and around the green, but the irons and putter will need to pick back up over the weekend.
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