An eventful day at the Rocket Mortgage Classic ended with a big-time leader — whose name you may not even know. Thursday at Detroit Golf Club started with world No. 6 Bryson DeChambeau and his caddie, Tim Tucker, calling it splits, which was overwhelmingly the biggest news of the day. However, former Georgia Bulldog Davis Thompson is leading outright after 18 holes in just his third PGA Tour start should at least compete for top headline one day into this tournament.
Thompson shot a 63 and leads a trio of players by two strokes after weather delayed the play at Detroit Golf Club for several hours. Golfers finally finished their rounds after 9 p.m. local time, which makes for an early Friday considering the afternoon wave on Thursday goes first on Friday in Round 2. Let’s take a look at the board after 18 holes and what to expect going into the second day.
Rick Gehman and Kyle Porter break down and react to Thursday’s first round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic, including the surprise news that Bryson DeChambeau and caddie Tim Tucker are no longer working together.
1. Davis Thompson (-9): Thompson, who flirted with an early lead at the U.S. Open last September, led the field in strokes gained from tee to green and nearly did so in putting as well en route to his round-of-the day 63. Don’t let the OWGR number (1,150) fool you, either. Thompson was a stud in college (he finished second in the PGA Tour University points race), and Data Golf pegs him as nearly a top-200 player in the world. He talks like he’s been about a top-20 player for the last 10 years.
“Be present, go through my routines, don’t get too high or too low,” said Thompson of what it will take to go wire-to-wire. “I’ve played in a few pro events now, so you’ve just got to keep your emotions in check. Anything can happen. I know I’m playing well so I’m just going to have some confidence going into tomorrow and hopefully I can play another good round.”
I don’t know if Thompson can win a PGA Tour event this early and from this far out in front, but he’s a stud, and it would be pretty surprising to me if he faded away over the next few days. There should be plenty of excitement and buzz around him over the next 54 holes.
T2. Brandon Hagy, Tom Lewis, Joaquin Niemann (-7): Niemann actually emerged after Round 1 as the 5-1 favorite for the rest of the week, according to William Hill Sportsbook. That is not a good number considering he has just one top 10 since the Hawaii swing, but Niemann is also an immense talent that’s terrifying in any event. He did most of his damage on Thursday on the greens, though, so I’m probably fading on 5-1 despite my affinity for Niemann’s game.
T5. Seamus Power, J.J. Spaun (-6): Power has been playing some legitimately good golf of late with three consecutive top-20 finishes and four in his last five events globally. Power said his iron play has been really working lately, and it did again on Thursday as he finished 20th in strokes gained on approach shots. Then he gave a little inside look at what his mindset has been of late (and I found it very insightful and maybe even helpful!).
“You have access to so much information now with the technology on the driving ranges and with all the coaches,” added Power. “You just go on and on. You go on any social media and it’s some swing, someone’s breaking down a swing. It’s like everyone swings it differently so just kind of trying to figure out what you do and what you do well and focus on that instead of kind of what other guys are doing or what other guys have been advised to do. That’s what I’ve tried to do.”
T7. Jason Day, Kevin Kisner, Satoshi Kodaira, Matthew Wolff, Si Woo Kim, Fabian Gomez, Hank Lebioda, Michael Gligic, Troy Merritt, Pat Perez, Robert Streb, Chris Kirk, Roger Sloan (-5): Yes, that’s a … checks notes … 13-way tie for 7th with golfers from … checks notes again … six different countries. The big names here are Day and Wolff, and both have showed signs of life lately. Wolff at the U.S. Open where he legitimately contended for most of the first three rounds and Day last week at the Travelers Championship where he mixed it up with the leaders before finishing T10. Both have had personal battles (Wolff mentally, Day physically), and either would be a pretty sweet Sunday story.
T36. Phil Mickelson (-3): The good news is that Mickelson nearly led the field in iron play. The bad news is that’s about the only thing he did well. Still, it was a solid start for Lefty, who knows he needs a few more good weeks (he only has one top-20 in his last 21 starts, albeit a good one!) to eventually make the Ryder Cup team.
“I need to get in contention,” Mickelson said. “I think that I haven’t been as … I haven’t been consistently at the top of the leaderboard and I need to do that, and if I do that, then it will be much more appealing.”
T110. Bryson DeChambeau (E): The big fella carded an even-par 72 in his first post-Tim Tucker round, which sounds fine until you see that he’s not even in the top 100 on this leaderboard. His floor is so high because of how far he hits it, and indeed on Thursday he gained two strokes on the field with his driver — which is solid — after finishing second in driving distance at 317 yards. But that means he lost nearly four strokes (!!) in the other categories — mostly because his proximity on approach shots was horrible. He’ll have room to make up ground and make the cut on Friday, but he’ll have to be sharper from scoring distances in Round 2.
