By Roy J. Akers- www.skyviewsports.net
Who’s Up, down and They Said It and super junior Miles Russell
(Detroit, Michigan) Some golfers are all world and can win nearly every week. Some players are horses for the course and the Rocket Mortgage Classic has some of that. For every Bryson DeChambeau who won the second tournament in 2020, there is Nate Lashley and Cam Davis. Tony Finau won in 2022 and Rocket Mortgage ambassador Rickie Fowler won in 2023. The PGA Tour is full of players that are trying to make their bones and only a handful really become household names. So…
Moving Day- Who is Up? 1
Akshay Bhatia is a scary long lefty who is watching his career go on a positive trajectory. At the RMC, his opening rounds of 64-67 (-13) were good for a tie for the lead. He has won once this season at the 2024 Valero Texas Open. Since joining the Tour in 2023, he has won better than four million dollars.
He has made 13 of 19 Cuts this season and the key to his game is his driving. He is 11th on the PGA Tour in driving and his total driving is 22nd due to bombing the ball and keeping it in the fairway and scoring from the shot. Bhatia birdied the second and fourth holes for a 34 on the front. Bhatia traded punches with Rai all day and he is pumped up for round four. “Yeah. I mean, I’m still in this golf tournament. I wouldn’t say everything felt super sharp today, but I’m right there, excited to be here. Just fun, I love this. I said this last week and I said it this week, but I love the feeling of just all the adrenaline and fan
support, so I’m excited for tomorrow.
Who is Up? 2
Aaron Rai went into moving day tied with Akshay Bhatia and after 18 holes, he is still tied with Bhatia. There are 26 players within 7 shots of the lead on Sunday and Rai (66-65-68) – 17 has a great chance to win a golf tournament. He served notice with five birdies and a bogey. The difference this week for Rai is his approaches to the green and his putting where he is ranked second and third this week among players. Aaron knows he is in a battle with Akahay. “Yeah, it’s always fun playing with Akshay. We know each other pretty well and it was nice today that we both played well and kind of kept the rounds going and kind of fed off each other at certain times. I think anytime you’re playing with someone in form,
Akshay’s been playing some great golf as well over the last few months really, so I’m sure
it’ll be fun tomorrow and I look forward to it. “
Who is Up? 3 Miles Russell- 15-year-old Miles Russell Gains experience
Dates and Details of the Junior Amateur
Miles Russell is going places. He is the AJGA reigning player of the year as a 14-year-old player in 2023. He wins just about everything he touches. He did not make the cut at the 2024 RMC, but he shot a 74-70 (E) 144. Putts would not fall for Russell and his courtesy car was driven by his father so he could concentrate on golf. His take on the week: “Got off to a nice start and just wasn’t quite able to keep it going,” Russell said in his post-tournament news conference. “Just needed a couple more putts to drop. I think it was a good week, just the golf didn’t go the way I wanted it to, but it was a great week.”
Russell was supposed to be the marquee name for the event and has already qualified for the event. Now that Charlie Woods has qualified and his dad Tiger will most likely be in the gallery or on the bag. Russell talks about playing Oakland Hills.
Miles Russell is Playing the USGA Junior Amateur and its FREE
How different of a challenge will Oakland Hills be as opposed to Detroit Golf Club?
MILES RUSSELL: I think it might be a little firmer, a little faster, rough might be a little
thicker, might be a little bit more of a championship-style course. I think the rough’s going to
be probably five, six inches and pretty thick. I think the key’s going to be keeping it in the
fairway
Moving Day- Who is Down? 1
Gary Woodland did NOT make the cut at the RMC after shooting a 70-76 +4. A staple at the tournament every year, Woodland has won one major (the 2019 US Open) in his career and has two more top- ten finishes in the majors. Woodland has turned 40 and is still ten years away from the greatest mulligan on Tour. The PGA Champions Tour. For the year, Woodland has made eight of 16 cuts including four in a row before the recent US Open and now the RMC. Best of luck to a player who enjoys playing the Detroit Country Club course designed by Donald Ross.
Who is Down 2- Taylor Montgomery
Moving day gets at least one player every week. Usually its a big handful of players. Taylor Montgomery started the day two off the lead at -11 and carded a five over 77. Montgomery started with a double bogey on the second and reeled off three birdies on the front nine. The back nine sent TM down the leaderboard. Bogeys on four consecutive holes 11-14 put him at 5 under for the tournament. Montgomery is looking for his first PGA Tour win. Driving distance and accuracy are the bugaboo’s for Montgomery. He is in the 70’s for golfers in the field at the RMC.
They Said It- 1- Rickie Fowler- Defending Champion
How does it feel to finish with four consecutive birdies?
RICKIE FOWLER: Definitely nice. I hit it well all day, just really didn’t make anything. So
to — yeah, 4 to finish and there was one shortly before that, so five of the last six holes.
Yeah, good finish that kind of made up for all the misses and what could have been. Yeah,
happy with it. Looking forward to tomorrow and see if we can get some birdies go in a little
bit earlier that we did today.
They Said It -2 Will Zatoris’ Manager on his WD in Rd. 3
“Will experienced some discomfort after a swing today and, out of utmost precaution, made the tough decision to withdraw. It’s important that he listens to his body and gets some rest. He hates to withdraw from the Rocket Mortgage Classic and looks forward to getting back out on the course soon.“- In 15 starts prior to this week in Detroit, Zalatoris tallied three top-10 finishes: T-2 at the Genesis Invitational, T-4 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and T-9 at the Masters. He hasn’t finished inside the top 40 since Augusta National.
Round 3 Leaderboard
PGA Tour Website
Roy J. Akers is a multi-media reporter and covers several sports for www.skyviewsports.net
