This Thursday morning, Draftkings golf fans will be presented with the first round of the 2025 Rocket Classic. Let’s take a look at the first round of this tournament from a DFS perspective.
Before I discuss my Draftkings player selections for this week’s PGA Tour event let’s review where the first round of the 2025 Rocket Classic will be played.
The 2025 Rocket Classic will be played at the Detroit Golf Club in Detroit, Michigan. The golf course is a par 72 that measures approximately 7,370 yards.
*The Detroit Golf Club has hosted the Rocket Classic since the tournament’s debut on the PGA Tour schedule in 2019.
Cam Davis won the 2024 Rocket Classic with a cumulative four round score of 18 under par.
I wanted to emphasize that the purpose of this article is not to provide an exact DFS lineup.
Having stated that, this article will provide multiple player options in an effort to assist the reader in generating a unique lineup that will hopefully have the potential to win a DraftKings GPP (guaranteed prize pool) contest! Keep that in mind as you construct your lineups for this DFS slate.
For those readers that are not aware, the rules and scoring for DraftKings single round showdown contests are vastly different than the traditional classic contests offered by the platform.
If you need to review the specific rules for the single round showdown contests feel free to check out the DraftKings website.
Here are my DraftKings picks for the first round of the 2025 Rocket Classic.
Draftkings First Round Picks
Collin Morikawa $10,800
The talented American has compiled nine top 23 finishes in his last 12 tournaments played on the PGA Tour, including a second-place result at the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational in March.
Collin Morikawa certainly checks the box for me when it comes to key player statistics. Let me be more specific. Morikawa is currently ranked tenth in strokes gained off the tee (0.542), sixth in strokes gained approach, eighth in total strokes gained (1.221), second in driving accuracy (73.08%), seventh in proximity to the hole (34’8) and eighth in birdie or better percentage (24.42%) on the PGA Tour.
Additionally, Morikawa has posted a quality result at the Detroit Golf Club in the past. Morikawa finished second at the 2023 Rocket Classic.
Alex Smalley $8,000
Alex Smalley has tallied three top 28 finishes in his last four events played on the PGA Tour, including a fifth-place result at the 2025 Myrtle Beach Classic in May.
Chris Kirk $7,500
Last month, Chris Kirk fired a second round 70 at the 2025 U.S. Open on his way to an eventual 12th place finish. Kirk finished 14th at the 2023 Rocket Classic.
Victor Perez $7,400
Victor Perez has tallied three top 19 finishes in his last five events played on the PGA Tour, including a ninth-place result at the 2025 RBC Canadian Open three weeks ago.
Due to Victor Perez’s quality result at the RBC Canadian Open I decided to take a hard look at the player data from the event to see how Perez fared relative to the field.
Upon the completion of four rounds of competitive play at the 2025 RBC Canadian Open, in relation to the field, Victor Perez ranked second in GIR (greens in regulation-86.1%), 13th in total birdies made (20) and 12th in bogey avoidance (6).
Additional golfers I like to perform well in the first round of the 2025 Rocket Classic (Draftkings price noted): Ben Griffin $10,200: Patrick Cantlay $10,000: Rickie Fowler $9,100: Matt Fitzpatrick $8,400: Alex Noren $7,900.