Rickie Fowler's recent struggles have been well-documented during the 2019-20 PGA Tour schedule. He has just two top-10 finishes this season, and the hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic doesn't seem to have altered his trajectory. In fact, Fowler has missed the cut in his first two starts since play resumed. The five-time PGA Tour champion will look to get back on track at the 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic when it tees off from Detroit Golf Club on Thursday.
The 7,334-yard course seemingly favors long drivers, which is why Fowler is a 30-1 long shot in the 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic odds from William Hill. Fowler enters the Rocket Mortgage Classic 2020 averaging 292.5 yards off the tee, which ranks 150th on the PGA Tour. Meanwhile, Bryson DeChambeau, who's averaging over 320 yards per drive this season, is the Vegas favorite at 7-1 according to the latest PGA odds. Before locking in any 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic picks or entering any PGA DFS tournaments on sites like FanDuel and DraftKings, be sure to see the golf predictions and projected leaderboard from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
SportsLine's prediction model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has nailed two of the last three majors entering the weekend. It predicted Gary Woodland's first career major championship at the U.S. Open even though he wasn't the favorite entering the weekend. The result: Woodland held off a late charge from Brooks Koepka and won by 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 already this season, the model called Justin Thomas (15-2) winning the CJ Cup, Rory McIlroy (11-2) taking down the WGC-HSBC Champions and Viktor Hovland (11-1) earning his first career PGA Tour victory at the Puerto Rico Open.
McClure also returned a whopping +788 during the 2020 Charles Schwab Challenge, including nailing top-five bets on Xander Schauffele +650 and Collin Morikawa +900. Additionally, the model was extremely high on 30-1 long shot winner Webb Simpson at the RBC Heritage. The model had him in the top five from the start and McClure's best bets included Simpson winning outright. Those who followed that advice saw a whopping +3000 return. Anyone who has followed his golf picks has seen huge returns.
Now that the Rocket Mortgage Classic 2020 field is locked, SportsLine simulated the event 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. Head to SportsLine now to see the full projected leaderboard.
The model's top 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic predictions
One huge shocker the model is calling for at the Rocket Mortgage Classic 2020: Tyrell Hatton, a five-time professional champion and one of the top Vegas favorites, stumbles big-time and doesn't even crack the top five. He comes into this week with momentum after a strong recent performance at the RBC Heritage (third). He also won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March.
That win was his only PGA Tour victory, with his other successes coming internationally. He also ranks just 87th on tour in average driving distance (298.8 yards) and 60th in driving accuracy percentage (64.64). The model has factored those numbers in and is fading him this week, making him one of 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic favorites to avoid in this loaded field.
Another surprise: Sungjae Im, a massive 25-1 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. Im certainly has the game to be near the top of the leaderboard on Sunday. The 22-year-old secured his first PGA Tour victory earlier this season at the Honda Classic and has finished 10th or better in three of his last five starts.
In addition, Im enters Thursday's 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic tee times ranked in the top 15 in scoring average (69.649) and birdie average (4.28). Plus, he's racked up the most birdies (274) on the PGA Tour this season, which makes him a strong value pick to climb the 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic leaderboard.
How to make 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic picks
Also, the model says three other golfers with odds of 25-1 or longer will make a strong run at the title, including an astronomical long shot going off higher than 35-1. Anyone who backs these underdogs could hit it big. You can only see them here.
So who wins the 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic? And which long shots stun the golfing world? Check out the odds below and visit SportsLine now to see the projected 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic leaderboard, all from the model that's nailed six golf majors, and find out.
2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic odds (via William Hill)
Bryson DeChambeau 7-1
Webb Simpson 11-1
Patrick Reed 16-1
Tyrrell Hatton 16-1
Hideki Matsuyama 18-1
Viktor Hovland 20-1
Sungjae Im 25-1
Rickie Fowler 30-1
Tony Finau 33-1
Kevin Na 35-1
Scottie Scheffler 40-1
J.T. Poston 40-1
Doc Redman 45-1
Harris English 50-1
Rory Sabbatini 50-1
Bubba Watson 50-1
Brian Harman 60-1
Erik Van Rooyen 60-1
Adam Hadwin 60-1
Jason Day 60-1
Brandt Snedeker 60-1
Lucas Glover 66-1
Christiaan Bezuidenhout 70-1
Alex Noren 70-1
Branden Grace 70-1
Brendon Todd 70-1
Maverick McNealy 70-1
Kevin Kisner 70-1
Keegan Bradley 80-1
Will Gordon 80-1
Harold Varner 80-1
Rafa Cabrera Bello 80-1
Kyle Stanley 80-1
Chris Kirk 80-1
Patrick Rodgers 90-1
Seung-Yul Noh 100-1
Michael Thompson 100-1
Tyler Duncan 100-1
Matthew Wolff 100-1
Wes Roach 100-1
Scott Stallings 100-1
Joseph Bramlett 100-1
Brian Stuard 100-1
Mark Hubbard 125-1
Sebastian Munoz 125-1
Emiliano Grillo 125-1
Tom Hoge 125-1
Lanto Griffin 125-1
Jason Dufner 125-1
Aaron Wise 125-1
Tom Lewis 125-1
Ryan Armour 125-1
Si-Woo Kim 125-1
Luke List 125-1
Chesson Hadley 125-1
Nate Lashley 150-1
Harry Higgs 150-1
C.T. Pan 150-1
Wesley Bryan 150-1
Danny Willett 150-1
Sam Burns 150-1
Peter Uihlein 150-1
Ben Martin 150-1
Beau Hossler 150-1
Andrew Putnam 150-1
Matt Wallace 150-1
Charl Schwartzel 150-1
Pat Perez 150-1
Russell Knox 150-1
Patton Kizzire 150-1
Shawn Stefani 150-1
Jamie Lovemark 200-1
Talor Gooch 200-1
Chris Stroud 200-1
Richy Werenski 200-1
Wyndham Clark 200-1
Kevin Tway 200-1
Troy Merritt 200-1
Cameron Davis 200-1
Matt Jones 200-1
Sam Ryder 200-1
Luke Donald 200-1
Kristoffer Ventura 200-1
Sepp Straka 200-1
Kevin Chappell 200-1
Jimmy Walker 200-1
Henrik Norlander 200-1
Cameron Tringale 200-1
Brandon Hagy 200-1
Bill Haas 250-1
Ted Potter 250-1
Vincent Whaley 250-1
Zac Blair 250-1
Chase Seiffert 250-1
Hudson Swafford 250-1
J.J. Spaun 250-1
Lucas Bjerregaard 250-1
Adam Schenk 250-1
Kyoung-Hoon Lee 250-1
Ryan Blaum 250-1
James Hahn 250-1
Austin Cook 250-1
Stewart Cink 250-1
Grayson Murray 250-1
Steve Stricker 250-1
Josh Teater 250-1
Tyler McCumber 250-1
Scott Brown 300-1
Zack Sucher 300-1
Robert Streb 300-1
Peter Malnati 300-1
Cameron Percy 300-1
Bronson Burgoon 300-1
Robby Shelton 300-1
Hank Lebioda 300-1
Brian Gay 300-1
Johnson Wagner 300-1
Aaron Baddeley 300-1
Roberto Castro 300-1
Kramer Hickok 300-1
Sahith Theegala 300-1
Chris Baker 300-1
Ryan Brehm 400-1
David Hearn 400-1
Doug Ghim 400-1
Rob Oppenheim 400-1
Mark Anderson 400-1
Ricky Barnes 400-1
Seamus Power 400-1
Rhein Gibson 400-1
D.J. Trahan 400-1
Tim Wilkinson 400-1
Fabian Gomez 400-1
Jonathan Byrd 400-1
Xinjun Zhang 400-1
Bo Hoag 400-1
Dominic Bozzelli 500-1
Greg Chalmers 500-1
Arjun Atwal 500-1
Michael Gligic 500-1
Roger Sloan 500-1
Martin Trainer 500-1
Michael Kim 500-1
James Nicholas 500-1
Scott Harrington 500-1
Michael Gellerman 500-1
Nelson Ledesma 500-1
Bo Van Pelt 500-1
Peter Kuest 500-1
Sebastian Cappelen 500-1
Ben Taylor 500-1
Matt Every 500-1
Vijay Singh 500-1
John Senden 500-1
