Rocket Classic 2026: The Numbers, Including a 537-Yard Par 4
Nos. 7 and 17 now play 505 and 537 yards. The purse is $10m, the winner takes $1.8m, and Rocket has declined its 2027 option. Every confirmed number.
The 2026 Rocket Classic runs Thursday 30 July to Sunday 2 August at Detroit Golf Club. It's a par 70 of 7,328 yards with a traditional 36-hole cut, playing for a $10,000,000 purse with $1,800,000 to the winner and 500 FedExCup points.
The course has been rebuilt. Per the PGA TOUR's own First Look, Nos. 7 and 17 now play as par 4s of 505 and 537 yards following a $16 million renovation by architect Tyler Rae.
And per Golf Digest, this is "the eighth and final iteration of this event here, as Rocket declined to pick up its option for 2027."
The renovation, hole by hole
We've written about this course twice this week and twice had to say we didn't know which holes had changed. Now we do.
No. 7: 505 yards, par 4. No. 17: 537 yards, par 4.
That's 1,042 yards across two holes, averaging 521. Both would rank among the longest par 4s played anywhere on Tour this season, and one of them is your 71st hole on Sunday.
A precise note on wording. The Tour says the routing "shifted to a par 70" and that these two holes now play as par 4s. It doesn't explicitly say they were par 5s before. The arithmetic makes that all but certain — you don't lose two shots of par by accident — but we're reporting what the source says rather than what it implies.
The work was on the North course, the one the tournament uses. The South is next. Both were designed by Donald Ross, laid out on a tight plot in the middle of the city, mostly flat and framed by trees, with enough subtle movement to make the angles matter. The greens average 5,150 square feet — small, and worth holding onto. For comparison, Quail Hollow's average about 6,578 and TPC Craig Ranch's about 6,778.
There's one more wrinkle from the Tour's Power Rankings: the South Course's first hole now plays as the tournament's par-4 third, making this officially a composite layout.
The comparison nobody has run
Here's a number that reframes the whole week, and we haven't seen it anywhere.
In 2025, Detroit Golf Club played as a par 72 at 7,370 yards. This year it's a par 70 at 7,328.
The course is 42 yards shorter and two shots of par harder.
Run it per stroke: last year the field got 102.4 yards of golf course for every shot of par. This year they get 104.7. That's about 2.2% more course per allowed shot.
(Our calculation, from the 2025 CBS Sports preview and the Tour's current course-stats page.)
The caveat is genuine. Yards per stroke of par is a crude proxy. It ignores rough, green speed, bunkering, wind and where they put the tees on any given morning. It won't tell you the scoring average. What it does tell you is that this isn't a case of a course being stretched — they've made it demand more without making it longer, which usually means the difficulty is in the design rather than the distance.
Worth remembering alongside that: per the Tour's own fantasy analyst, as a par 72 in 2025 this was the course that yielded more par breakers than anywhere else on Tour. That reputation belonged to a layout that no longer exists.
The money
| Detail | Amount |
|---|---|
| Purse | $10,000,000 |
| Winner's share | $1,800,000 |
| FedExCup points | 500 |
| OWGR points | 45 |
| 2025 purse | $9,600,000 |
The winner's share is exactly 18% of the purse. That's not a coincidence — the 3M Open last week paid $1,584,000 from an $8,800,000 purse, which is also exactly 18%. Two events, same ratio, which is a useful cross-check on both figures.
The purse is up $400,000 on 2025, about 4.2%.
The field, and a number nobody agrees on
Three different figures are currently in circulation.
- 147 — RotoBaller, and the PGA TOUR's own Rob Bolton
- 145 — rocketclassic.com, the tournament's own site, updated within hours of writing
- 144 — mygolfessentials and Golf News Net
We're going with 147 because two sources have it and one of them is the Tour. But note the oddity: the organiser's own freshly updated site says 145. If the number matters to you, check the official tee sheet on Thursday morning rather than trusting any preview, this one included.
Who's here: eight of the world's top 20, and by another count 21 of the top 50 with ten major champions.
Cameron Young, world No. 3 and already a two-time winner this season, is back for a fourth appearance. He has two top-10s here — T2 in 2022 and T6 in 2024 — though on a course that has since been rebuilt, so weigh that accordingly.
Jackson Koivun arrives having won the 3M Open 24 days into his professional career.
Aldrich Potgieter defends.
Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka are making their tournament debuts.
Also in: Wyndham Clark, Chris Gotterup, Si Woo Kim, Akshay Bhatia, Jacob Bridgeman, Russell Henley, J.J. Spaun and Xander Schauffele.
Why the field is this strong
This is one analyst's reasoning rather than a reported fact, but it's the best explanation on offer.
Lineups' preview argues the Rocket Classic has landed in an accidentally perfect slot. Players don't like four weeks in a row. Most big names will skip next week's Wyndham. Links golf at The Open is poor preparation for Memphis in August. And the 3M Open served as a natural travel week for many.
Which leaves this as the de facto final sharpening week before the Playoffs — for a tournament that, in most years, struggles for star power.
The stakes
This is the penultimate event of the FedExCup regular season. The Playoffs begin in two weeks, and the top-70 bubble is where the drama is.
Jackson Koivun currently sits at exactly No. 70 — the last spot into the FedEx St. Jude Championship. He has two weeks to hold it, with Jason Day and Keegan Bradley among those not far behind.
That number will move. It's the cut line, it's live, and it's the single most volatile figure in this article.
Watching
| Day | Coverage |
|---|---|
| Thu–Fri | 3–6 p.m. Golf Channel (plus a 1–7 p.m. window) |
| Sat–Sun | 1–3 p.m. Golf Channel |
| Sat–Sun | 3–6 p.m. CBS and Paramount+ |
SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio carries audio.
A bit of history, since it's the last one
The tournament debuted in 2019 as the Rocket Mortgage Classic, replacing the Quicken Loans National. It brought PGA TOUR golf back to the Detroit area for the first time since the 2009 Buick Open at nearby Grand Blanc. It was renamed the Rocket Classic in 2025.
Detroit Golf Club itself dates to 1899.
On the ending: we hedged this in an earlier piece, splitting it into "last under this sponsor" versus "last ever" versus questions about the 2028 schedule restructure. Golf Digest's reporting is more specific than that — Rocket declined its option for 2027, and this is the final iteration. It's one source, and we found no statement from Rocket explaining the decision, so it isn't quite nailed down. But it's the clearest account available and it supersedes the softer version.
FAQ
When is the 2026 Rocket Classic?
Thursday 30 July to Sunday 2 August, at Detroit Golf Club, 17911 Hamilton Road, Detroit.
What's the purse?
$10,000,000, with $1,800,000 to the winner — exactly 18% — plus 500 FedExCup points.
What par is the course now?
Par 70, 7,328 yards. It was a par 72 at 7,370 yards in 2025.
Which holes changed?
Per the PGA TOUR, Nos. 7 and 17 now play as par 4s of 505 and 537 yards.
Who renovated it?
Tyler Rae, in a $16 million project on the Ross-designed North course. The South course is next.
Is there a cut?
Yes, a traditional 36-hole cut.
How big is the field?
147 by most counts. The tournament's own site says 145; two other outlets say 144.
Is this really the last Rocket Classic?
Golf Digest reports it is, with Rocket having declined its 2027 option. Single-sourced, and no company statement was found.
Who's defending?
Aldrich Potgieter.
Why does this week matter?
It's the penultimate regular-season event. Jackson Koivun sits exactly on the No. 70 playoff cut line.
GOLFRAW's Take
A 537-yard par 4 is a properly unpleasant thing to put in front of somebody at the 71st hole of a golf tournament, and it's the most interesting fact of the week. The rest of the numbers say something quieter. They took 42 yards off the course and two shots off the par. That's a renovation with an opinion — a deliberate decision that the easiest scoring venue on Tour had become a bit of a joke, and that the fix was architecture rather than length. Whether it works, we find out Thursday. One last note, and it's the same one for the fourth day running. Tyler Rae rebuilt this golf course for $16 million, it's the entire story of the week, and not a single outlet we've checked across four days has quoted him. Somebody should ring him up.