Peter Malnati opened the final Rocket Classic with a 9-under 61 on Thursday, turning a course that was supposed to play tougher into an early scoring sprint. He needed only 28 strokes on the opening nine, made seven birdies without a bogey, and was 9 under through 13 holes before a few late misses kept him from going lower.
That left Malnati two shots clear of Rickie Fowler and Ryan Gerard, who both posted 63 as the opening round filled up with low numbers. Patrick Fishburn shot 66, while Keegan Bradley and Chris Kirk were among the players at 65, the kind of leaderboard that put Detroit Golf Club squarely on 59 Watch even after its $16.1 million renovation and switch to par 70.
Malnati’s best stretch came when he rolled in a 55-foot birdie putt on the par-3 11th to reach 8 under. From there, he said he was thinking about something special. “I’m going for 57, that was my thought,” he said, later adding, “When you get a chance to do something special, you want to do it.”
The course did not behave like a setup built to protect par. Fowler said the greens were receptive and that the layout could still punish anyone who drifted. “For being as new as it is, it’s in great shape,” he said. “Being a year from when it basically was dirt, I think it’s great.” Bradley went even further, calling the work “one of the best redos I’ve seen.”
That is the odd shape of the first round at Detroit Golf Club. The renovation was supposed to make the place more demanding, but the numbers came fast anyway, with Malnati at 61, Fowler and Gerard at 63, and other groups producing 65s and 66s. The new par-70 setup may have shortened the route to a low score, but it also made the late holes matter even more, especially after the 17th was converted from a short par 5 to a long par 4.
Malnati, 39, arrived as a two-time PGA Tour winner ranked 565th in the world, with just seven made cuts in 17 starts entering the week. He had missed the cut at the 3M Open last week, while Michael Kim shot 59 there and then opened with 65 on Thursday. Malnati’s own run was more than enough to grab attention, but it was still one shy of what it would take to join the PGA Tour’s sub-60 club: 59 or better.
He will go to the second round with the lead and the same question hanging over the tournament that opened it. If the first round was any guide, Detroit Golf Club is not promising a quiet finish.
