DETROIT – Taylor Moore is striking a pose this week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
The 29-year-old Arkansas grad backed up his opening-round 64 with a 67 at Detroit Golf Club on Friday to share the 36-hole lead with Taylor Pendrith.
Moore, who claimed his first PGA Tour win at the Valspar Championship in March, had missed three straight cuts and shot in the 70s in 11 of his last 13 rounds.
“I think in the past I might have hit panic a little bit with how my game’s been, scores that I posted, tried to really reinvent some stuff and try to make a quick fix,” Moore said. “But my golf swing’s good, mentality’s good, just going to keep playing golf and I feel like I would eventually play myself out of some of the scores I was shooting. Thus far I’ve done that.”
Indeed, he has thanks to a hot putter. Moore ranks first in Strokes Gained: Putting (+7.602), and already holed more than 226 feet of putts. But his focus has been on holding his finish on his swing, and so far it’s done the trick.
“That’s kind of just always been something for me as a junior golfer all the way through my golf career, that’s kind of brought me back just to hitting better shots and more quality shots and just kind of staying there until the ball’s finished,” he said. “That’s something I’ve tried to bring back this week.”
Here are four more things to know about the second round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Pendrith loves Detroit Golf Club
Taylor Pendrith has some unfinished business at Detroit Golf Club.
He shared the lead in each of the first three rounds last year with Tony Finau before posting an even-par 72 and finishing tied for second. Through 36 holes he’s been lethal again, shooting bogey-free rounds of 67-64 to share the lead at the halfway point. Asked to recall the last time he made a bogey he said, “I don’t know. Not this week. I came close a couple times today, but I had a nice putt on the last to bail me out.”
In addition to an 11-footer at his last hole, Pendrith poured in birdie putts of 31 feet at No. 12,18 feet at No. 3 and 22 feet at No. 4. He also chipped in for birdie at 15.
So, why has Pendrith, who is still seeking his first PGA Tour title, faring so well on the Donald Ross layout?
“I think it’s a combination of this is the same type of grass I grew up on, same type of greens, old-school layout, a lot of drivers,” he said. “Yeah, I don’t know, I really like this place and feel good with everything.”
With Saturday being Canada Day, the 32-year-old Canadian from Ontario wouldn’t be surprised if his faithful fans came driving across the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor to catch him in his chase for that elusive first trophy.
“Last year I had tons of Canadian support out here, some more family and friends are coming down for the weekend, so yeah, should be fun,” he said.
Morikawa, Fowler and newly-minted pro Aberg lurking
Rickie Fowler was dialed in early and delivered two big shots that fired up the crowd on his way to the house and posting 7-under 65, his best score in 16 rounds at Detroit Golf Club.
Fowler made three birdies on the front nine, the longest of which was from 2 feet 2 inches. But then he poured in a 49-foot putt at No. 12, an 11-footer at 15 and capped it off by chipping in from 27 feet at 17 for eagle. Fowler, who is winless since the 2019 WM Phoenix Open, is knocking on the door again for career win No. 6. (He has finished T-17 or better in nine of his last 10 starts on Tour.)
“The biggest thing, we can’t try and press too hard,” he said. “I definitely know we can win. This is — how I’ve played is some of the best if not the best I’ve felt about my game and on the course really ever.”
Fowler will be paired in the third round with Ludvig Aberg, who shot 67 on Friday. The Texas Tech grad said his driver is “behaving,” and the stats back that up: he is leading the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and SG: Tee to Green. This is just his fifth Tour start this season and third as a pro but he isn’t backing down.
“I’ve heard some interviews with Scottie (Scheffler) where he says winning is a skill, and he’s very right about that,” Aberg said. “It is a little bit different playing with a lead, playing right under the lead. I’ve been fortunate enough to be in that position a lot this year in college, so I felt like I got better at that as the season went on. I’m looking forward to have those same nerves here, which is going to be a little bit different, but I also think just being OK that it is a little bit different is going to help me a little bit.”
One stroke back of Fowler and Aberg is Collin Morikawa after shooting 67. Morikawa said that during the round his mind wandered and he started thinking about how he’s coming up on nearly two year since his last win at the 2021 British Open. He’s well positioned – and hitting the ball like he did when he was making winning majors look easy – to end his skid.
“Figured it out Wednesday, it’s worked the past couple days, we’re going to keep sticking to it and hopefully it continues to get even better this weekend,” Morikawa said of a simple swing fix that has made a big difference.
Landry’s course record
Earlier this week, Andrew Landry’s swing coach asked him what it would take for him to win a golf tournament.
“I said, ‘If I could hit 15 greens every single day, I’d win the golf tournament,’” said Landry a two-time winner on the PGA Tour.
He did one better than that.
Landry’s ballstriking was on target and his putter took care of the rest. He shot a bogey-free 9-under 63 at Detroit Golf Club on Friday, tying the course record and matching his career-low round on Tour.
“I’ve been needing this one,” Landry said.
That’s an understatement. Landry hasn’t recorded a top-25 finish this season and entered the week at No. 210 in the FedEx Cup standings. He missed five straight cuts before making his last two cuts but finished T-57 and 67th.
Landry suffered two shoulder injuries last season and hasn’t recorded a top-10 since 2021 World Wide Technology Championship. He reconnected in May before the AT&T Byron Nelson with Layne Savoie, an assistant coach when Landry played at Arkansas. “He came out this week and started working a little bit more on some hip depth and trying to get the club more out in front of me on the way down,” he explained.
Landry, 35, added that he’s the owner of several course records but this one gave him a much-needed boost of confidence.
“It’s in there,” he said. “I know it is.”
Chase is on the case this weekend
Chase Johnson posted a pair of 70s at Detroit Golf Club and made the cut on the number to become the first male winner of the John Shippen National Invitational to make the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
“Hopefully that’s just the first of many John Shippen champions. A lot of these guys who I played with this past weekend, they’ve all got game. We’ve got a lot of PGA Tour appearances between the players and hopefully this helped open some more doors for them in the made cuts, and hopefully a win in the future just starts flooding in,” Johnson said.
The 27-year-old pro plays primarily on the Korn Ferry Tour but won a spot in the RMC field for the weekend, shooting the low 36-hole score (67-68) by three strokes.
“All you can ask for is the chance to show yourself and what you’re capable of, and I did it this weekend,” he said.
Detroit Golf Club members pitched in a total of $20,000, the first time the three-year-old competition has offered a purse.
Shippen was the first Black to play in the U.S. Open, finishing fifth in 1896, and is believed to be the first American-born golf professional.
