Rocket Mortgage Classic 2024: Round 2 Best Bets & AI Caddie Pick
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Fresh off of some of the best events of the 2024 PGA Tour season that were mostly dominated by Scottie Scheffler, we return to a classic layout: Detroit Golf Club for the Rocket Morgage Classic. Round 1 had a bunch of low scoring, with the course playing more than a stroke under par.
Akshay Bhatia leads at 8 under, and he's truly playing some excellent golf lately. There is no golfer on the Tour since January 1 that has played as many rounds as Bhatia and gained more strokes than him, and he just fired his third 64 in his past five rounds.
There's plenty of golf to be played, though, and plenty of bets to make.
Following every round, we’ll be going through my favorite AI golf picks for the following round, as well as the Rithmm-backed AI Caddie hole score picks I’m rolling with. Let’s get into Round 2!
All Odds are found on DraftKings Sportsbook unless otherwise noted
Rocket Mortgage Classic Round 2 AI Caddie Pick
Tom Kim to Birdie or Better Hole 1 (+225)
I don't think anyone was expecting to see the pre-tournament favorite shoot a one-over par 73 on Thursday, but Kim is coming off what must have been a rough couple of days after losing to one of his close friends in Scheffler in a one-hole playoff at the Travelers Championship last Sunday. It makes a lot of sense that Kim would be frustrated, and it must have bled into his game on Thursday.
However, a brand new day starts Friday, and Kim will be able to start his day off on the right foot by birdeing Hole 1. Our Rithmm AI Caddie gives him a 34% chance of birdieing this hole, versus 28% for the rest of the field, so this is a good hole to take a swing on since the implied odds of +225 are 30.7%.
Kim parred this hole in Round 1, but gets a Round 2 hole location that he can attack on the right side of the green. At under 400 yards, this is a great opportunity to start off well on.
Rocket Mortgage Classic Round 2 Best Bet
Matchup Play: Ben Griffin > Will Zalatoris (+105)
We closed the week with a win on Thomas > Lowry last week, so let's carry that into this event.
I hate betting against Zalatoris in a market like this because he truly can go nuclear at any time but the simple fact of the matter is that he simply is not playing great golf right now. Last week, he started off the Travelers similarly, with a 6 under Round 1. He imploded after, however, and struggled the rest of the week.
Griffin is not a golfer of the same caliber as Zalatoris, but he is playing steady golf currently, and an added benefit is that while Zalatoris ranks 95th this season in Round 2 Scoring average at 70.5, Griffin sits fifth, with an average of 68.7 across 19 rounds.
I think Zalatoris' Round 1,under a microscope, shows signs of things slowing down. Zalatoris gained over 3 strokes on the field with his putter, something we do not usually see from him, which worries me when he only hit 35% of his fairways.
Griffin, on the other hand, had a complete Round 1, gaining, with the putter, on approach, around the ground, and ballstriking.
Closing Remarks on Rocket Mortgage Classic Round 2 Best Bets
Stay tuned for all updates and AI predictions for the Rocket Mortgage Classic by visiting our website and using the Rithmm app for dozens of AI picks for every round.
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Useful Resources for betting on the Rocket Mortgage Classic 2024
Learn more about the tournament by exploring:
