Value Report: Rocket Mortgage Classic

The Travelers Championship will forever hold a special place in my heart after getting to experience it with the Establish The Run crew last week. Not just being able to spend time with the content team, but getting to really know subscribers and seeing the effort many took to make an appearance in Cromwell was incredible. It never fails to amaze me meeting internet friends in real life, as it has always lived up to the hype. This probably reigns true for a lot of us, but at this point in my life, it’s not all that easy to make new friends, and getting to kick it with the crew that we communicate the most with despite rarely meeting in person makes the hours working together with each other all worth it. Let’s run it back next year at a new tournament with even more of the folks making it out!

The six pack of selections for the Travelers had a pretty middling week at best. I was very keen on Tom Kim finding his old self and there was definite glimpses of that on Thursday and Saturday, but the two other blow-up rounds gave him no chance. Max Greyserman was similar as he went to Sunday with a backdoor chance to top-five the event, but he fell apart too in the final round to give a really disappointing result. Bud Cauley and Kevin Yu played to expectation, if not exceeding it slightly, but that’s not enough to be impactful in large-field contests. The two shining stars were Ryan Fox, who earned yet another top-20 result, and Andrew Novak, who matched Fox’s DFS output despite being much further down the leaderboard. Novak admitted that he was a bit banged up post-U.S. Open, so I think the right move was being lighter on him than the rest, but he definitely still showed a lot of birdie-making ability. What was even more frustrating was everyone but Novak had the good end of the weather too, so to not capitalize on that split with the Value Report was underwhelming.

A major championship, to a signature event, right in to the Rocket Mortgage Classic is a big change-up when it comes to field strength, but these are the type of events where we really can maximize our knowledge. The Rocket Mortgage, John Deere, and 3M Open all fall in this bucket for me, and with no other major sports outside of baseball running up against this stretch of golf, we will have ample prize money to compete for. We start to work in motivation angles too at this point of the season as well as some interesting sponsor’s exemptions too, so time to lock in and take advantage of the opportunities ahead!

Jake Knapp, $7,300 – No one flooded the Value Report more than Jake Knapp to kick off 2025, as he put together a very legitimate stretch of golf in February and March. But since the 12th-place finish at the Players, Knapp really hasn’t done much outside of the Zurich Classic until he flashed in the opening round at the RBC Canadian Open. His Thursday 63 was the round of the week for him, but he at least held on to settle for a T27 result. Detroit Golf Club doesn’t necessarily play to any specific strengths, but I’ve always leaned heavy distance here since there’s zero regard for the rough off the tee, and that style of play is when I love to lean into Knapp. He has proven in his two years on Tour that he can spike with his short game, but the lack of iron play is what is keeping him stuck in neutral at the moment. Hopefully the momentum from Canada propels him back into contention.