The Rocket Mortgage Classic this weekend is the fourth event since the PGA Tour resumed play on June 11. Each event has had a slightly weaker field than the prior event, and this week we have a bigger drop-off in strength of field than in any of the others. From the Hawley Ratings, only two of the top 10 (Webb Simpson and Hideki Matsuyama) will be at the Detroit Golf Club. Only three more are entered from the top 20, and 14 more from nos. 31 to 50. Maybe an opening for a lesser star to step forward?

Simpson, who withdrew from last week’s Travelers out of caution after a family member tested positive for the coronavirus, is a lukewarm favorite. In two June appearances, he missed the cut in the Schwab and then won the Heritage with a birdie binge on the last nine. After the withdrawal from the Travelers, he traveled home to North Carolina, where he was tested along with his family members. All tests came back negative, and he made a last-minute commitment Friday to join the Rocket Mortgage field.

Matsuyama has only a missed cut at the Heritage to show for June. A better choice would be Bryson DeChambeau, who has the best record of any player in the field who has played all of the June events. He went third, eighth, and sixth in the sequence, and based on what was shown on TV, he failed to get to the top of the Travelers leaderboard only by virtue of some putts that barely missed.

The Detroit Golf Club is another of the many classic Donald Ross courses. It’s located a little less than 10 miles northwest of the casino area in downtown Detroit and is the flattest course on the PGA Tour. Per pgatour.com, Shotlink data that measures elevation of the expected playable areas shows that the venue is a nice flat walk. The Rocket event brought the Tour back to Michigan after a nine-year absence, and it brought big-time golf to this club for the first time. With only that one year of data to go on, the Hawley course fit statistics show a balanced course. with shots gained off the tee as the stat most closely associated with success. Correlated to a lesser degree are putting, greens in regulation, and scrambling.

The stats profiles of DeChambeau, Simpson, and Matsuyama indicate that they are the field’s strongest horses for this course. Fairly close behind are Scottie Scheffler, Tony Finau, and Sungjae Im.

After DeChambeau and Simpson, among players with at least two appearances in June, the following have the best records: JT Poston (two top-10s), Rory Sabbatini (twice in the top 25), Scott Stallings, Michael Thompson, Kevin Na, Viktor Hovland (three in the top 25), and Lucas Glover.

Rookie Will Gordon provided television viewers with some thrills Sunday as he battled his way into a tie for third and thus and earned special temporary Tour membership for the rest of the season. The 23-year-old Vanderbilt product can now receive an unlimited number of sponsor exemptions in 2020. Barring letdown after the roller coaster ride in the last nine on Sunday, he certainly has a chance. If you’re interested in longer shots, here are the top eight players from outside the top 50 who have raised their Hawley Ratings number the most since the Tour resumed: Doc Redman, Wesley Bryan, Poston, Thompson, Stallings, Patton Kizzire, Cameron Tringale, and Brian Stuard.

The tournament is the first major sports event in Michigan since the coronavirus pandemic led to the cancellation or postponement of sports in the United States.