Rocket Mortgage fans surround the 15th green on June 27 at Detroit Golf Club.
By: Jonathan Szczepaniak | Metro | Published June 28, 2024
DETROIT — Local sports fans remember being children and bringing their gloves to a Detroit Tigers game in hopes of catching a baseball, or reaching over the stands at Ford Field in hopes of fist-bumping their favorite Detroit Lions player.
Our favorite sports teams bring out the youth in all of us, and watching a fan beg a Rocket Mortgage Classic volunteer for a PGA Tour player’s broken tee on hole No. 3 of Detroit Golf Club on June 28 was just another example of that.
The minute he received the broken tee, he inspected it and celebrated with his friends like he just won the lottery.
The PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic may not have the Scottie Schefflers or Rory McIlroys of the world, but it gives each fan the ability to be right next to the action and be within reach of some of the best golfers in the world.
“When he first came a couple years ago, we got five balls here from five different guys, and he was thrilled,” Patrick Danz, 40, a Trenton resident, said while watching the 15th green with his son, Keason, 12. “I think I was more excited than he (Keason) was. It’s just the accessibility and players being so close to you; that’s what we love.”
It was Danz’s third year at the RMC while his son checked in for his second, rooting for his favorite golfer, Rickie Fowler.
Both are golf fans at heart, and Keason has picked the clubs up in a junior instructional league.
Keason Danz was glued into all the action on the 15th green, hoping for a Will Zalatoris autograph and to receive another ball to add to his collection.
“He got one from Billy Horschel last time he came, and Billy literally put it in his hand,” Danz said. “He just walked up to him. It was really cool. We became big Billy fans after that day.”
For young fans, all it takes is one golfer to show a little extra attention to them, and Cam Davis, currently No. 67 in the world rankings, did just that when he walked to the No. 3 tee box and missed on a high-five from a young fan. Instead of continuing to walk, he stood and waited as the young fan’s father called his son back to reconnect for a successful high-five this time around.
It’s moments like that where you become a fan of a particular golfer, and the RMC brings those types of opportunities to the forefront.
For decades, until its departure in 2009, the Buick Open in Grand Blanc was the best that Michiganders could get on the golf scene, but it doesn’t hold up in comparison to the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
“From what I remember (about the Buick Open), and I was 15 when I went, and Tiger had just burst onto the scene, that was crazy, but I think now there’s just so much more,” Danz said. “I think what they do for the fans now is that you can just get up close and personal, and the fan experience is just better for sure.”
For the adult crowd, concessions for adult beverages and food are in surplus, as they’re scattered all throughout the course, along with all the action just a few steps away from you.
The first 1,000 fans on June 28 received an orange hat in honor of Rickie Fowler, which flooded the RMC field today as spectators repped the orange.
If the past years have been any indication, the Saturday and Sunday rounds will only bring a livelier crowd ready to see who will be this year’s RMC champion.
Those who had the pleasure of attending the Sunday round last year, when Fowler came out on top, remember the energy and emotion from the crowd from each shot leading up to No. 18.
It’s a feeling unlike any other as a golf fan and spreads out to all ages, and it’s within reach at Detroit Golf Club this weekend.
Akshay Bhatia and Aaron Rai are the current leaders at -13 heading into day three with Taylor Montgomery, Cameron Young, Erik van Rooyen and Troy Merritt all at -11 and tied for second.