Detroit, MI

Who’s going win the Rocket Classic? The News’ golf ‘experts’ take their best swings

Published

6 months ago

June 25, 2025

Who’s going win the Rocket Classic? The News’ golf ‘experts’ take their best swings

Detroit ― Picking winners at professional golf tournaments is no breezy task. There are 156 players in the Rocket Classic field this week at Detroit Golf Club, and theoretically, anyone can get hot and win.

We’ve seen surprises over the years, like inaugural winner Nate Lashley and two-time winner Cam Davis, whose only two PGA Tour tournament victories (2021 and 2024) have come right here at Palmer Park.

We’ve seen the favorites win, like Bryson DeChambeau in 2020 and Tony Finau in 2022.

And we’ve seen the fan favorite win, with Rickie Fowler’s thriller in 2023.

In other words, good luck with those picks.

Our resident golf “experts” are taking their best swings, and trying not to shank ’em.

Tony Paul

▶ Favorite: It’s been a frustrating season for former U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, with his temp reaching a boiling point at the U.S. Open at Oakmont, where he destroyed a locker. But he’s got a decent history in Detroit, with a tie for eighth in 2022 and a tie for 17th in 2019, and he’s coming off one of his better showings of the season (and his best since March), finishing tied for 17th at the Travelers Championship. (Vegas: +3000)

▶ One to watch: Tom Kim used the Rocket as his springboard onto the PGA Tour in 2022, with a Sunday 63 vaulting the then-20-year-old to a seventh-place finish. He won the very next week, his first win on the PGA Tour. Kim is an electric player who’s not afraid to fire at the pins, leading to lots of low-scoring potential. If his iron game is on at Detroit Golf Club, he could turn around what’s been his toughest season on the Tour. (Vegas: +6600)

▶ Dark horse: Cameron Champ lost his PGA Tour card for 2025, so he’s had to claw for opportunities. The Rocket will be just his seventh appearance on the PGA Tour this season, but in two of the last three, the CJ Cup and the Canadian Open, he’s fared well, with a tie for 15th and a tie for ninth, respectively. It’s easy to forget, too, that he’s a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, who has a T12 and T20 in four showings at the Rocket. (Vegas: +12500)

▶ My pick: For this, we’ll go with another Cameron (one of three in the field this week, including two-time champ Cam Davis) ― Cameron Young, who, against all odds, hasn’t yet won the PGA Tour. He’s got four top-10s this season, including three in his last six starts, and he’s been in contention in previous years at the Rocket, a shorter course by Tour pro standards that he can manhandle so long as he keeps the driver somewhat on the grid. (Vegas: +2500)

John Niyo

▶ Favorite: Keegan Bradley keeps making life more difficult for the U.S. Ryder Cup captain. But the captain has no one else to blame, because the way Bradley is playing he just might have to name himself to the roster. Bradley is coming off a win at the Travelers Championship after a pair of top-10s in three starts before that. And since he seems to love Donald Ross courses, don’t be surprised if this turns into more than just a scouting trip. (Vegas: +1800)

▶ One to watch: Taylor Moore doesn’t know what it feels like not to finish in the top 10 in Detroit. That’s all he has done here in his first three years on tour, with last year’s T10 being his worst showing. Moore battled an injury earlier this spring and missed the cut in his last start three weeks ago, but his form coming in hasn’t mattered in the past. (Vegas: +8600)

▶ Dark horse: The Rocket Classic becomes a putting contest. And that certainly plays to one of the strengths in Harry Hall’s game, as the Englishman once again ranks among the Tour leaders in putting and birdie average. He also has posted top-25 finishes in his last five starts, including final-round 65 Sunday at the Travelers. (Vegas: +3500)

▶ My pick: Ben Griffin already has won twice this year, and his last five starts have all ended in top-15 finishes, including this past week at TPC River Highlands. Behind those aviator sunglasses he wears, there’s a golfer who seems as driven as anybody right now on the PGA Tour. He plays a lot, he can go low, and even though this will be his Detroit debut, Griffin figures to be in contention again this weekend. (Vegas: +2000)

Angelique S. Chengelis

▶ Favorite: Collin Morikawa is winless so far this season, but has a couple of runner-up finishes and is due for a breakthrough. What better place than Detroit, where he tied for second in 2023, losing in a playoff to Rickie Fowler. He’s a six-time PGA Tour winner, including wins at the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 Open Championship. His two runner-up finishes this season were earlier in the year, the second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March. Morikawa tied for 10th at The Players Championship and tied for 14th at the Masters. (Vegas: +1200)

▶ One to watch: Keegan Bradley is the captain of the U.S. Ryder Cup team, but he also arrives in Detroit with plenty of momentum, coming off a win at the Travelers last Sunday. Bradley has entered 15 events this season and has five top-10 finishes. He finished tied for 21st in Detroit in 2023 and had his top finish here in 2021, tied for 14th. (Vegas: +1800)

▶ Dark horse: Luke Clanton, 21, the former No. 1-ranked amateur in the world who played collegiately at Florida State, has tremendous upside. He made his PGA Tour debut as an amateur at the Rocket Classic in 2024 and finished tied for 10th He has made 11 of 15 cuts and has two runner-up finishes in his brief time on Tour. (Vegas: +3300)

▶ My pick: Patrick Cantlay might not be the most popular golfer out there, and he missed the cuts at the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship but, he’s coming off a strong finish at the Travelers Championship, where he tied for 12th. Cantlay tied for second in Detroit in 2022. (Vegas: +1400)

Craig Yuhas

▶ Favorite: Collin Morikawa just missed winning two years ago, losing in a playoff to Rickie Fowler and Adam Hadwin. He has had a good year with nine top-25 finishes out of 13 events, including two runner-up finishes. He has a good chance to get victory No. 1 on the season this week in Detroit. (Vegas: +1200)

▶ One to watch: Akshay Bhatia nearly won last year, but he struggled late to finish second. There likely will be some motivation to make up for a missed opportunity. (Vegas: +4500)

▶ Dark horse: Hadwin, the longtime PGA Tour pro from Canada, has come close here (he lost in that playoff to Fowler in 2023), but has come up just shy of winning the Rocket. He flies under the radar at most events, but has game enough to win on the PGA Tour. (Vegas: +15000)

▶ My pick: In the last year, Max Greyserman has turned his game up a notch. He has four runner-up finishes and has made a ton of cuts. I like guys at this event that are on the “verge” of breaking through. This could be the week he breaks down the door. (Vegas: +3500)

tpaul@detroitnews.com

@tonypaul1984

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Detroit, MI

EPA wrongly found Detroit area safe for smog, judge rules in split decision

Published

6 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Press Room

EPA wrongly found Detroit area safe for smog, judge rules in split decision

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was wrong to determine Michigan met federal health and environmental standards for ozone pollution or smog in the Detroit area in 2023, a federal appeals court judge has ruled.

U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Helene White on Dec. 5 issued a split decision in a case about how environmental regulators measured Detroit air quality in 2022, when wildfire smoke drifted over Detroit and affected the air quality monitor readings for a few days in June.

Michigan considered those days “exceptional events” because of the wildfire smoke and didn’t include the high ozone pollution readings in its calculation to the EPA.

With those days tossed, the state was able to argue in 2023 that Michigan met federal air quality standards for ground-level ozone pollution. The seven-county Metro Detroit region had previously been out of compliance with the ozone standards.

The Sierra Club sued, arguing the wildfire smoke did not meaningfully change ozone readings and that the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy failed to analyze how local pollution sources contributed to the ozone levels on those days. The environmental advocacy group also challenged the EPA’s finding that the region met federal standards for ozone pollution.

White determined the exceptional events designation was appropriate, siding against the Sierra Club in deciding the EPA and EGLE correctly analyzed the smoke’s impact on ozone readings in June 2022.

She sided against EPA in deciding the EPA was wrong to put Michigan back into attainment for ground-level ozone without Michigan adopting control measures that would cut volatile organic compounds, which contribute to ozone pollution.

EPA determined the Detroit area was out of attainment for ground-level ozone on April 13, 2022. Michigan regulators did not impose control technologies for ozone-causing pollutants by the deadline in early 2023. Instead, they asked EPA to redesignate the area as in attainment with the air quality rules.

Michigan was obligated to implement control technologies even though it had submitted a redesignation request, White said in her order. Control technologies include efforts to reduce volatile organic compounds from being released from manufacturing plants and industrial sources, according to EPA documents.

Sierra Club member and Detroit environmental justice activist Dolores Leonard cheered the outcome of the case.

“Without this victory, EPA’s decisions would have let Michigan avoid the rules needed to reduce pollution and keep the air we breathe safe,” Leonard said. “At a time when asthma rates are rising in Detroit, especially in Black communities, that’s unacceptable. With the backing of this federal court decision, our community will continue to push the state of Michigan to take much-needed action to relieve ozone pollution in this area.”

The Clean Air Act requires those pollution control measures to be implemented even after the EPA puts an area back into attainment to ensure the air quality remains healthy, said Nick Leonard, executive director of Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, which argued the Sierra Club’s case.

White’s order means the EGLE will have to reapply for the attainment of the ozone standard, Leonard said.

“At the very least, I would say they have to correct the legal deficiency, which was that they didn’t enact the pollution control rules that are typically required for areas that are in non-attainment for this long,” he said.

The EPA is reviewing the decision, its press office said. The office did not respond to a question about whether it would ask Michigan to adopt volatile organic compound control measures as a result of White’s decision.

The EGLE also is reviewing the ruling, spokesman Dale George said.

“While EGLE was not a party to the case and is not able to speak in detail about the legal outcome, we were encouraged that the court supported the use of exceptional events demonstrations and acknowledged the sound science behind EGLE’s determination that the Detroit area met the health-based ozone standard,” George said.

Leonard said he was disappointed but not surprised that White ruled against the Sierra Club’s arguments that EGLE and the EPA did not correctly account for wildfire smoke’s impact on ozone readings in 2022.

That issue is going to plague communities as climate change causes northern wildfires to become more common and kick smoke into Michigan, he predicted.

“If we start to essentially cut out bad air quality days because of the claim they were partially influenced by wildfire smoke … , you create this disconnect between the regulatory systems that are meant to protect people and the actual air pollution that people are breathing,” Leonard said.

ckthompson@detroitnews.com

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Detroit, MI

Active saves leader Jansen joining Tigers on 1-year deal (sources)

Published

19 hours ago

December 13, 2025

Press Room

Active saves leader Jansen joining Tigers on 1-year deal (sources)

The Tigers’ bullpen revamp for 2026 now includes an unusual feature for the A.J. Hinch era: A veteran closer. Detroit has reached agreement on a one-year contract with four-time All-Star and 16-year veteran Kenley Jansen, sources told MLB.com.
The deal, which is pending a physical and has not been confirmed

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Detroit, MI

Detroit-area teen charged in carjacking at Applebee’s restaurant bound over to circuit court

Published

1 day ago

December 13, 2025

Press Room

Detroit-area teen charged in carjacking at Applebee’s restaurant bound over to circuit court

December 12, 2025 / 10:59 PM EST
/ CBS Detroit

A 15-year-old boy who is accused of carjacking a woman last month at an Applebee’s in Roseville, Michigan, is heading to circuit court after waiving his preliminary examination, according to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office.

The teen is charged with one count of carjacking, third-degree fleeing a police officer, two counts of malicious destruction of personal property, assault with a dangerous weapon, assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer, operating without a license and failure to stop after a collision.

The teen appeared for a probable cause hearing on Dec. 10 and waived his right to a preliminary examination. He will be arraigned on Jan. 5, 2026.

He remains in at the Macomb County Juvenile Center under a $250,000 cash/surety bond. If he posts bond, he is ordered to wear a GPS tether, be restricted to his mother’s house and have no contact with the victim, witnesses or Applebee’s.

Prosecutors allege that on Nov. 24, 2025, the teen forcibly took a woman’s 2016 Jeep Patriot in the restaurant’s parking lot. The teen took off in the vehicle and crashed it on Gratiot Avenue.

“The allegations and charges in this matter are serious. Carjacking is a violent offense that carries life-altering consequences for victims and offenders alike,” Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido said in a statement. “To the young people of Macomb County, understand that the choices you make today will determine the path available to you tomorrow. We want every youth in this community to succeed, but that starts with stepping away from dangerous decisions before they lead to irreversible outcomes.”