Rocket Mortgage Classic: What to Know
3 Michigan natives – PGA Tour pros Brian Stuard of Jackson and Mt. Pleasant’s Ryan Brehm – in the field along with Donny Trosper of Canton (MSU grad) who earned a spot in the Monday Qualifier round
(Note: An extremely limited number of media will be allowed to attend this year with no fans, and Michigan Golf Journal is one of the select few who will be onsite providing daily reports for rounds 1-4 – so check back daily.)
PRE-TOURNAMENT INTERVIEW
July 1, 2020 MICHGAN PGA TOUR PRO BRIAN STUARD
The PGA Tour ran a press conference (facilitated by staffer Mark Williams) on Wed, July 1 with Jackson native Brain Stuard. Here are highlights from that interaction for you to enjoy:
MARK WILLIAMS: Brian Stuard, thanks for joining us here at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. You played in this, what is essentially your home event, last year for the first time, the inaugural event, finished in the top-5. Can you just explain what the difference has been like for you this week on site compared to last where, where I imagine you had a lot of friends and family around? It’s got to be pretty different for you.
BRIAN STUARD: Yeah, it’s definitely the biggest difference. I mean, last year was something that I never really experienced before, having that many friends and family be able to watch and support me. It’s going to be a little bit different this year, a little quieter, I think, but it’s still great to be back at Detroit Golf Club and back in Michigan to play a PGA TOUR event.
MARK WILLIAMS: Brian, you’ve played 18 events this season, which I think there’s only three or four players that have played more than you. I know you like to play a lot. You’re coming off a top-20 finish last week at Travelers. Just talk about the state of your game and what we might need to see from you to go a little better than the T-5 this week at Detroit.
BRIAN STUARD: Yeah, I’ve been playing well. All three weeks that we’ve been back, I’ve been playing pretty well. I feel like my putting is not quite where it needs to be, so I think that’s going to be the biggest key for me this week. I feel like I’m driving it well and irons feel good, but got to make all the putts.
MARK WILLIAMS: Brian, welcome back to Detroit. I guess, first of all, you talked a little bit about it’s going to be different this year. Could there be — I know you enjoyed it last year, you had hundreds of tickets, I think, that you guys secured for friends and family trying to scrape those up, but could it work a little bit to your advantage this week given that you won’t have all that around you, or would you rather have everyone here?
BRIAN STUARD: Yeah, that’s a good point. Definitely a lot less distractions this week probably I think with the no fans, that’s kind of the feel that it has been, but you know, it’s going to be different. I’m not sure if it will be better or worse for me this week, but last year was something that, like I said, I’ve never experienced that before playing a tournament in Michigan, have that many friends and family there. So I don’t think — you know, it’s just going to be tough to duplicate that obviously, but that’s kind of the goal, just to hopefully play well again.
Question: Were you pulled in a lot of different directions like outside of your rounds last year? I mean, did you feel like obligated to kind of play host in a way?
BRIAN STUARD: Not too much. You know, you see everybody after you sign your scorecard and you say hello to whoever made it that day, I guess. Other than that, not too much. I mean, we went to dinner a few times with a few different friends and family, but other than that, not really. You know, everybody’s pretty good about kind of knowing that it’s a work week, I guess, but yeah, once a year it’s okay to have that obligation, I guess.
Q. And you’re not one of the longer drivers out here, but played really well here last year. Do you think accuracy is more important than distance here?
BRIAN STUARD: I think driving it straight here is very important because there’s a lot of — every fairway’s pretty much tree lined and you can — you would rather be 150 rather than 100 in the trees obviously; 150 in the fairway rather than 100 in the trees. Yeah, I think accuracy is important every week. I think this week is a little more important than some, I would say. So yeah, I think it is.
Q. And the rough, is it as thick around the greens as everyone’s saying?
BRIAN STUARD: Yes, yes it is, around the greens it is very thick and it’s very lush. So I think you want to be in the fairway to be able to control your ball coming into the greens and hopefully hit a bunch of greens this week.
Q. Last one. How much time would you need to spend in the gym to be able to hit it as far as Bryson?
BRIAN STUARD: I don’t know, man. I played with him last week and he sure has transformed his body. It’s pretty impressive to watch him hit the tee ball. He let it rip a couple times and you just kind of sit back and watch it. It’s pretty impressive.
Q. My question is regarding the course. So, I wanted to know how familiar you are with Donald Ross designs and what characteristics of that do you see here at Detroit?
BRIAN STUARD: Yeah, you know, we play a bunch of them throughout the year and throughout your college days, your amateur days. I always just kind of attribute it to an old-school, tree-lined, traditional golf course. usually the greens are kind of the test of a Donald Ross course, I would say, and it’s no different here. The greens are very — there’s a bunch of different sections where you want — you would like to keep your ball in the proper section because if you’re not, then you’re going to have a tough time two-putting, so I think that’s an important characteristic of his courses.
Q. Another Bryson question for you here if you don’t mind. Last week, is it unnerving or distracting at all to play with him the way he is driving the ball? And I guess the second part would be, does it make you think at all about what he’s thinking about just in terms of all the tinkering, the mad scientist stuff, do you start to wonder maybe I should be doing some more things like this?
BRIAN STUARD: That’s a very good question. The unnerving part, no, not really. I’m used to everybody hitting it past me. I’m one of the shorter guys out here, for sure, so I’m used to that, but it’s still impressive to watch. You know what, what impressed me about his process, I guess, is kind of on the greens mostly. They were talking about a lot of numbers that I had no idea what they were talking about. For me, I don’t think I could play that way. I don’t think quite like that. It’s definitely interesting to see somebody take a different approach. Obviously it works for him.
Q. Two questions totally unrelated with an option for a third unless I get yelled at. If you look back at these three weeks, can you kind of describe or explain what your typical routine is off the golf course compared with what it would have been a year ago? I’m thinking dinner, things like that.
BRIAN STUARD: Yeah, I don’t think — not too much has changed, I don’t think. It’s different at the tournament, there’s a lot less going on, I would say. I feel like you can — it’s easier to get your work done. And for me, I think the biggest thing is just trying to get enough rest in. Too much practice is too much practice sometimes. That’s the biggest thing for me.
Q. Has Russell (Knox) invited you out to the bus or anything for dinner?
BRIAN STUARD: You know, actually, we bought one ourselves, so we’ve been traveling along with him, so that’s the biggest change for me. Decided to do it and really enjoy it so far. Wish I would have done it a couple years ago, I think.
Q. So did you drive to Ft. Worth and Hilton Head and Connecticut and beyond?
BRIAN STUARD: I did, yes. Not sure if we’re going to continue to do that, those were some 4 Tee-Scripts.com long drives, but it’s worth it once you get it there. Q. Who’s doing the driving? BRIAN STUARD: Me and my girlfriend, Alicia.
Q. I was just curious on another thing, Brian. When you won Zurich in ’16 I think that was… And went into the winner’s category, did you find yourself looking to see who you would get paired with? Does it matter to you? I noticed it didn’t seem like you got paired with an Adam Scott or a DJ or Phil very much. Was that disappointing?
BRIAN STUARD: It doesn’t matter to me too much. Yeah, it’s, you know, a little disappointing. I’ve never played with Tiger or Rory, I guess, but played with pretty much everybody else, I think. Yeah, you look at the pairings every week and you know if you get along with the guy. I mean, I get along with most everybody. There may be a few people that you think, oh, man, I don’t want to have to play with him, but for the most part it doesn’t matter.
Q. On the Zurich win, obviously that put you in a special category getting that first win. Getting the second win would be much more exclusive. How much of a burning desire do you have, how much does
that weigh on your mind? You’ve made a great career for yourself, no question, but how much do you think about that?
BRIAN STUARD: I don’t think about it too much. There’s definitely a desire to win again, but I think for me, I’m just trying to do as well as I can each week and hopefully I get a couple more chances to close the deal. But like you said, there’s always that desire to get back in the winner’s circle.
Q. And more details on this bus. When did you get it? What’s it like?
BRIAN STUARD: About a month ago, so about two weeks before Colonial Decided to pull the trigger and do it. We’ve been talking about it for a year or so and decided that now is the time to do it if we were going to do it. It’s been a lot of fun so far. Haven’t had too many issues, knock on wood, I guess. It’s been awesome. Like I said, I wish I would have done it a couple years ago probably.
Q. Did you do it specifically with the COVID protocols in mind or you just wanted to do it?
BRIAN STUARD: A little of both. I think that the whole COVID thing kind of pushed it over the edge. We’ve been talking about doing it for a while, Russell Knox and his wife, we’re good friends with them and they’ve done it for a couple years and they really enjoyed it. We just decided that now would be the time to give it a go and it’s been great.
Q. This was my option for a third question, Brian. It’s really offbeat and I’m sorry for that. What do you consider the most risky thing you’ve ever done in your life?
BRIAN STUARD: The most risky thing I’ve ever done? That’s a tough one. I don’t know, maybe not too much really, I’m not very risky. Rollercoasters? Small airplane? I guess I would go with that.
*** DONNIE TROSPER OF CANTON IN THE ROCKET TOO
Donnie Trosper, a Canton native who played golf at Plymouth High School and Michigan State who turned professional at the end of last summer, qualified on Monday for the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Trosper finished in a tie for second place at 4-under par in the qualifier at Oakland University, then won the playoff on the third hole over three other pros; Andrea Pavan of Lucas, TX, Andres Echavarria of Pembroke Pines, FL and Wes Homan of Beastville, OH. The overall winner of the qualifier was Kurt Kitayama of Chico, CA, at 7-under par. ***
Jason Day committed on June 24 to join many other stars of the PGA Tour. He did not play in Detroit last year. Day’s most prestigious PGA Tour titles are the 2015 PGA Championship and 2016 PLAYERS Championship, which helped him conclude the 2016 season as the world’s top-ranked player. The affable Australian finished T5 at the 2019 Masters and represented the International Team over four consecutive Presidents Cups from 2011-2017.
World No. 17 Tony Finau recently committed to play as well at Detroit Golf Club, marking his debut in Detroit. Finau, age 30, made the U.S. Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Finau, who turned pro at age 17, posted 3 top-10 results in golf’s 2018 majors, combining his U.S. Open result with a T10 at The Masters and T9 at The Open Championship.
The tournament’s 156-player field was confirmed as final on Friday, June 26.
MICHIGAN CONTIGENT:
Jackson native Brian Stuard (T5 last year) is qualified for the field, as well as Mt. Pleasant native/Traverse City resident Ryan Brehm.
“I know Brian is pumped to be in it again. Brian and I were talking about the rough and the way the course is versus to last year. It will be a similar set up. Hopefully it will play firm and fast like it did on the weekend (last year).”
Finau’s and Day’s commitments adds to earlier recommitments from notables in the field like:
· Patrick Reed – World No. 7, 2018 Masters champion and eight-time PGA TOUR winner.
· Bryson DeChambeau – World No. 11 and five-time PGA TOUR winner.
· Rickie Fowler – Five-time PGA TOUR winner and World No. 31
· Bubba Watson – The 2012 and 2014 Masters champion and 12-time PGA TOUR winner.
· Nate Lashley – Inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic champion in 2019.
· Webb Simpson – winner at the PGA Tour event at Hilton Head Island, the week before The Travelers.
· PGA Tour Veterans like Davis Love III, Charl Schwartzel, Vijay Singh and Brandt Snedeker.
COURSE SET UP and SAFETY FEATURES:
Langwell went on to explain that – despite lots of talk that the rough will be grown longer here in year 2 – the set up will be very close to last year, maybe with a little more grass in the rough. He indicated wanting to wait for a second year of ShotLink data to be collected to have two years’ worth of numbers to evaluate, before working with the Detroit Golf Club to decide if they narrow the fairways or grow the grass longer in future years, for example.
Langwell went to the PGA Tour’s season ‘reboot’ event at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth Texas in mid-June. He said it was very helpful to be there and to see the PGA Tour’s safe distancing – or ‘player bubble’ as it’s been called – plan in action.
“It’s one thing to have the process down on paper and it’s another thing to see that process in action,” he told Michigan Golf Journal. “An example I can give was seeing how their (practice) range worked with players driving themselves to the range. It will be similar to here, where they’ll pick up a cart at (Detroit Country Club’s) 18 South and go to our range. It was very similar at Colonial, but they realized down there they had all these carts and they didn’t have a lane (separation) where they would drop off a cart versus where you’d pick one up. So, some players started to go towards a cart that had just been used, before it had been cleaned and disinfected.”
Langwell went on to explain that Colonial staff quickly made an adjustment and had players drop them off in one location, then go to a second lane to pick up a new, cleaned cart. He said on paper, the
process was right; “but then seeing it come to life – you make minor adjustments like that, where you grab a couple extra (orange) cones and make slight modifications.”
CHARITABLE OPPORTUNITIES:
Having multiple sponsorships and thousands of fans in attendance is what drives the charity engine at pro tournaments. Without that feature this year due to Covid-19, it makes raising charity dollars more difficult. Covid-19 also exposed even more harshly the ‘digital divide’ within the City of Detroit, particularly when students had to begin online learning with virtually no advance warning.
So, the Rocket Mortgage Classic announced the beneficiaries of this year’s PGA TOUR event with the launch of the Connect 313 Fund, a new organization that will coordinate digital inclusion strategy across the City of Detroit as part of the Rocket Mortgage Classic’s “Changing the Course” initiative.
The Connect 313 Fund was developed in partnership with the City of Detroit and key stakeholders from private and nonprofit organizations, and is rooted in the City’s visionary “Connect 313” program. In addition to coordinating a city-wide, data-driven digital inclusion strategy, the Fund will make investments into Detroit-based nonprofit partners to increase access to technology, internet and digital literacy resources.
“While the COVID-19 pandemic certainly magnified the digital divide, the reality is that nearly one in three Detroit families have lacked access to internet and digital resources for decades. It’s important to our entire organization, and our founder and chairman Dan Gilbert, that the Rocket Mortgage Classic serves as a driver of lasting change,” Jay Farner, CEO of Rocket Mortgage, said in a news release. “The Connect 313 Fund, alongside other primary beneficiaries, will allow us address long-lasting gaps in access to healthcare, education and employment, which are a consequence of the underlying lack of digital connectivity.
“By ‘Changing the Course,’ we can collectively and collaboratively bridge the digital divide in Detroit once and for all.”
Additional primary beneficiaries identified by the Rocket Giving Fund for the Changing the Course initiative include:
· The Children’s Foundation – which will work with youth-centric nonprofits to bridge the digital divide within their programming. Partners include 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic beneficiaries Detroit Police Athletic League, First Tee of Greater Detroit and Midnight Golf.
· Greater Palmer Park Community – a collection of seven neighborhoods around Palmer Park and the Detroit Golf Club dedicated to the holistic improvement and advancement of the entire area.
Funds will be generated to support the Changing the Course initiative in a variety of ways. Among those are the AREA 313 Challenge, the Rocket Mortgage Classic’s online merchandise store, a virtual tee time experience that allows partners access to exclusive online player chats, and the Rocket Mortgage Fall Classic – a re-imagined golf outing and culinary experience planned for September.
The Rocket Mortgage Classic’s ‘AREA 313’ will also serve as a driving force toward generating donations. Per Detroit’s famed area code, the AREA 313 Challenge focuses on holes 14, 15 and 16 at Detroit Golf Club. PGA TOUR golfers will strive to make an eagle, hole-in-one and birdie (3-1-3) on those holes during the four rounds of play Thursday-Sunday. If any player registers scores of 3, 1 and 3 on those holes over the four days, the tournament will make a $313,000 donation in their name toward Changing the Course.
Golf fans and philanthropists alike can also participate in the AREA 313 Challenge while watching the tournament on television. Fans can join the competition by donating when your favorite golfer scores a 3, 1 or 3, and help end the digital divide in Detroit by visiting ChangingTheCourse.RocketMortgageClassic.com or by texting “AREA313” to 243725 – now through the end of play on Sunday, July 5.
