The 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic gets underway on Thursday and there are plenty of intriguing groups set to tee off at Detroit Golf Club. Gary Woodland, who's making his first start since winning the U.S. Open, will be paired with 2012 FedEx Cup champion Brandt Snedeker and Keith Mitchell, who won his first PGA Tour event earlier this year at the Honda Classic. Rickie Fowler, who earned his fifth PGA Tour victory earlier this year at the Phoenix Open, will play alongside Charles Howell III and Kevin Kisner, two pros who have also finished on top of the leaderboard this season. Meanwhile, last week's champion, Chez Reavie, and World No. 2 Dustin Johnson, the favorite in the latest 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic odds at 5-1, join 2017 Masters champion Patrick Reed for the first two rounds of play. The first 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic tee times are at 6:45 a.m. ET. Before locking in any 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic picks on these golfers or any others, see the PGA predictions from the proven golf model at SportsLine.
SportsLine's prediction model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has nailed the last two majors entering the weekend. It predicted Woodland's first career major championship at the U.S. Open even though he wasn't the favorite entering the weekend, and put him into its best bets at 85-1 before the tournament even began. The result: Woodland held off a late charge from Brooks Koepka and won by a resounding three strokes. The model also called Koepka's historic victory at the 2019 PGA Championship, predicting he'd hold his lead in the home stretch. In all, their advanced computer model has nailed a whopping six majors entering the weekend, and anyone who has followed it is way up.
Now that the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic field is locked, SportsLine simulated the event 10,000 times and the results were surprising. One huge shocker the model is calling for: Rickie Fowler, a five-time PGA Tour winner and one of the top Vegas favorites, barely cracks the top five.
Fowler is coming off a disappointing performance at the U.S. Open, where he finished 43rd after a second-round 77 derailed his dreams of capturing his first major. Despite his poor performance at Pebble Beach, the five-time PGA Tour winner has had success this season and will enter the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic full of confidence, having earned four top-10 finishes in 2019.
However, the 30-year-old has failed to finish inside the top 30 in three of his last four starts on the PGA Tour. His recent troubles can be directly attributed to his inability to find the fairway off the tee. Fowler enters this week's PGA event ranked 109th in driving accuracy percentage (61.33), which could cause major trouble at Detroit Golf Club. He's not a strong pick to win it all and there are far better values in this loaded 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic field.
Another surprise: Aaron Wise, a 66-1 long shot, makes a strong run at the title. He has a much better chance to win it all than his odds imply, so he's a target for anyone looking for a huge payday.
Wise is getting longer odds this week after missing the cut in two of his last three starts on the PGA Tour. But that's created plenty of value on the 23-year-old, who's finished in the top 20 four times this season already. He also excelled in the three majors held this year, making the weekend each time. He finished 17th at the Masters, 41st at the PGA Championship, and 35th at the U.S. Open.
Wise's power off the tee should pay dividends at Detroit Golf Club this week. He's averaging over 300 yards per drive, which has helped him hit almost 70 percent of greens in regulation (68.55). If Wise can keep that trend going, he'll have a strong chance to rack up birdies and find himself in contention on Sunday. He's a candidate to move up the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic leaderboard in short order.
Also, the model says four other golfers with 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic odds of 40-1 or longer will make a strong run at the title. Anyone who backs these underdogs could hit it big.
So who wins the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic? And which long shots stun the golfing world? Check out the odds below and visit SportsLine now to see the full 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic projected leaderboard from the model that's nailed two straight golf majors, and find out.
Dustin Johnson 5-1
Rickie Fowler 10-1
Hideki Matsuyama 10-1
Gary Woodland 12-1
Chez Reavie 20-1
Billy Horschel 33-1
Brandt Snedeker 33-1
Kevin Kisner 40-1
Ryan Moore 40-1
Patrick Reed 40-1
Kevin Streelman 40-1
Abraham Ancer 45-1
Viktor Hovland 45-1
Charles Howell III 45-1
Byeong Hun An 50-1
Sungjae Im 50-1
Bubba Waton 50-1
Joaquin Niemann 50-1
Bud Cauley 66-1
Sung Kang 66-1
Kevin Tway 66-1
Aaron Wise 66-1
Jason Kokrak 70-1
