Who will win the final Rocket Classic? Our golf nuts make their picks

Detroit — Seven down, one more to go.

This week marks the eighth and final playing of the PGA Tour’s Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club.

So, who will join the roster of champions that includes Nate Lashley, Bryson DeChambeau, Cam Davis (twice), Tony Finau, Rickie Fowler and Aldrich Potgieter? We’ll know soon enough, before the sun sets on Palmer Park on Sunday.

In the meantime, The Detroit News’ so-called experts (loose term) provide their predictions:

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Tony Paul, sports writer

Predicting the winner of a 147-player PGA Tour tournament is a near-impossible task, unless Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlory or prime Tiger Woods is teeing it up. Usually, I like to lean in heavily on the horses-for-courses theory, so I considered the likes of Jake Knapp (tied for fourth course-record 61 last year), Chris Kirk (lost in a playoff last year) and Taylor Moore (the only player with three top-10s here), but the course has been renovated. So I’m going with The Kid, JACKSON KOIVUN, 21, fresh off his first PGA Tour win at the 3M Open. We’ll pick him to go back-to-back at 3M and Rocket, like Tony Finau in 2022. If Koivun wins, he’d be the second player to receive a sponsor’s exemption into the Rocket (2024), only to win the tournament two years later (Aldrich Potgieter, 2023 exemption and 2025 title).

FanDuel odds: +2000

Angelique S. Chengelis, sports writer

CAMERON YOUNG, ranked No. 3 in the world, will win the Rocket, which would be his third win of the year. He was runner-up at the British Open and tied for third at the Masters and won the Players Championship in March. He is consistent and due for another win. 

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FanDuel odds: +1000

John Niyo, sports columnist

It’s a newly renovated course, but I’ll go with an old, familiar name to win the final Rocket Classic. This will be HIDEKI MATSUYAMA‘s sixth trip to Detroit Golf Club, and while has yet to post a top-10 finish here, he has made his share of birdies over the course of three top-25s, most recently an 18-under 270 to finish 13th last summer. We know Matsuyama can go low — he won The Sentry with a PGA Tour-record 35-under in January — and he’s coming in relatively hot, with three top-15s, including a tie for third last Sunday at the 3M Open in the Twin Cities.

FanDuel odds: +3000

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Craig Yuhas, assistant sports editor

In the final edition of the Rocket Classic, the field will get a little bit tougher test than in years past with a slight re-do of the Detroit Golf Club in the past year. With one of the best fields the Rocket has ever had, this will be likely another fantastic, close finish with the tougher conditions bringing more of the big names to the top of the leaderboard at the end. I’m going to double down on this guy, who I predicted to win and fell just short in 2024. AKSHAY BHATIA

FanDuel odds: +3500

You can check out the full Rocket Classic field HERE, and Tony Paul’s 18 players to watch HERE.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

@tonypaul1984

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Who will win the final Rocket Classic? Our golf nuts make their picks