The Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club, slotted as the fourth tournament in the PGA Tour's return to competition July 2-5, "features a field lacking certain star power" as the tour's "lone regular-season event held in a predominately Black neighborhood," according to Brendan Quinn of THE ATHLETIC. One "would think a visit to Detroit would be the tour's occasion to have a moment in our ongoing national conversation on race." However, the PGA Tour's "extent of any action in this area has been the moments of silence in Fort Worth and asking Harold Varner III, one of the tour's few Black players, to partake in an 11-minute 'conversation' with Commissioner Jay Monahan." For the tour, "delivering a presence in Detroit is what's right." But part of the issue is that the tour "can't force any of its players to play." As of Tuesday, the tournament has "commitments from 20 top-100 players." The "drop-off from the tour's previous three events is glaring and self-evident," and the "talent gulf has been a point of marked internal frustration in recent weeks." The "reasonings for Rocket Mortgage's weak field are multi-pronged." First, some see playing four straight weeks as "pushing the limits." Second, Detroit "previously arose as a coronavirus hotspot." Lastly, the tournament last year "introduced many tour players to a very different kind of tournament experience." Sources said that some players and their wives and families "were both caught off guard and taken aback by some of the surroundings near the DGC property" (THEATHLETIC.com, 6/24).
