Record Rocket: And Things Overheard at Detroit Golf Club

By Tom Lang

Records keep falling at the Rocket Classic PGA Tour event in Detroit this 2025 season.

First, a record score of 62 was set by Kevin Roy, then less than an hour later, it was equaled by Aldrich Potgieter. 

Then less than a day later, that 18-hole record was reduced to a 61 by Jake Knapp in Friday’s second round, allowing him to climb to T8 at 11-under. Tied with Knapp there is Roy, and Potgieter is at T5 after a 2-under round on Friday. 

Three others are tied for the lead after two rounds at 14-under par: Andrew Putman, Chris Kirk and Phillip Knowles.

Michigan men: seven golfers from Michigan started in the field – another record, and as of the third round, two have made the cut and continue on – Canton native James Piot (MSU grad), who stands at 6-under after two rounds and made it right on the cutline, and Caledonia native Brett White (EMU grad) who is T36 at 8-under par. The others who qualified or were exempt include: Joe Hooks (Southfield), Ben Cook, Otto Black (Brighton), Ryan Brehm (Mt. Pleasant/Traverse City) and Ashton McCullough (Mich State).

Here are comments from several of them after the completion of the second round:

White, who made it into the tournament during Monday qualifying: 

“It means a lot to have a lot of family and a lot of support (onsite)… but this is a little confirmation for all the work that I’ve done. This is a place I want to be more often, full-time, without having to Monday qualify. Hopefully in the years to come I’ll be back as a regular.

“I’m hungry for moving day and hoping to move up the leaderboard. 

“I had a few too many little mistakes (Friday). The bogeys I made, I kind of deserved them. I think I’ve got the firepower to move up the leaderboard, and hopefully eliminate those little things.”

White’s sister Sarah has had a couple LPGA Tour starts this season but mostly plays on the EPSON Tour. He said they don’t get to cross paths much while playing on separate tours but when there is a chance to meet at the holidays, they go after it.

“We’re competitive,” he said. “We’ll play for money and I don’t ‘let’ her win that’s for sure. I try to kick her butt every time.”

James Piot, 2021 U.S. Amateur champion, and former Spartan who spent two years on the LIV Tour: 

“A solid day, but a few stupid mistakes that I’m thinking about now that I’m on the edge of the cutline. 

“That would mean the world,” about making his first cut in a PGA Tour event. “A hometown event, family out here, it’s just really cool.

“The amount of ‘go greens’ and ‘go whites’ from the crowd – I was telling my caddie that I’m getting sick of saying’ go white,’” he added with a chuckle. “Obviously I’m happy to have local support and it’s so cool to have all the people out here from the Detroit area supporting.

“The putter got going today. Actually, I didn’t hit it as well as yesterday but today I made some longer putts and I knew good things were coming with it… today a few more finally dropped.”

Ryan Brehm, who won the 2022 Puerto Rico Open on the PGA Tour and was invited in: 

“There’s frustration really; I did enough good things to play better. There’s more positives to take from it. I’m getting through the tough shots and that’s what I need to get better at, clean it up around some greens. I had it to 5-under and just didn’t quite execute through this stretch of 9, 10, 11, 12 well enough and got behind. Didn’t play the par fives well enough this week either, just making pars a lot and that’s not something you can do on this course.”

Brehm said it’s harder to play well at home.

“You put a little extra pressure on yourself. It’s a lot harder.  You want to perform so badly that sometimes it gets in your way a little bit.”