Rocket Mortgage buildings in downtown Detroit will be lit up orange Sunday night in honor of the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic winner and fan favorite, Rickie Fowler.
Orange has certainly been the color of the weekend in Detroit. People of all ages came to Detroit Golf Club wearing Fowler’s signature orange to cheer him on in the tournament’s final round. The large group followed him from hole-to-hole, chanting “Rickie! Rickie!” from when he teed off until he sunk his final putt in the afternoon to win the title.
“Just wanted to say thank you to all the fans,” Fowler said. “You guys were amazing. Felt the energy all week. Just appreciate all the support. You guys were always there with me.”
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Fowler defeated Collin Morikawa and Adam Hadwin late Sunday afternoon in a playoff after the three were tied at 24-under-par 264 after four rounds of play. Fowler birdied the par-4 18th to come away with his first Tour win since 2019.
Morikawa got some love from the fans as he walked down the course on the 18th, but no one got nearly as much attention from the crowd as Fowler when he made his final stroll to the green.
“He’s been playing amazing golf,” Morikawa said. “It’s not like this is a one-time thing. He’s been playing phenomenal golf, it’s great to see. People love him. The fans still come out to see him no matter how he’s playing, but he’s been playing well.”
Homa’s ace
Much like Fowler, Max Homa is a favorite with the fans, and he gave the early-arriving crowd a lot to cheer about on Sunday when he sank the only ace of the tournament during the final round.
Homa moved up nine places Sunday to finish the tournament tied for 21st at 15-under. Despite being the highest-ranked player in the tournament, he struggled to find his way to the top of the leaderboard throughout the weekend, prompting a new strategy for the final round.
“I missed every seven to 12-footer of the week, so I just decided to aim closer to the hole,” Homa said. “It was like a perfect pitching wedge. It was like if it landed short, I thought it would skip forward. If it landed where it did, it should get close. I made a good swing on it.”
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This is Homa’s second ace on Tour, although he has yet to see either actually go in the hole.
“Couldn’t see it,” Homa said. “I made two out here now, couldn’t see either of them, so one day I’d like to see it go in. But it’s cool to hear the roar, especially on that hole, that hole’s awesome, so it was fun .”
Homa’s ace was the third in Rocket Mortgage history at the 15th hole, the first coming from Scott Brown in 2021, and the second coming from Rory Sabbatini in 2022.
Three players tied the course record
Three golfers tied the course record at Detroit Golf Club this weekend with a 9-under 63. Stefan Jaeger did it on Sunday, while Adam Hadwin did it Saturday and Andrew Landry did it Friday.
Jaeger tied for ninth place after finishing 18-under in the tournament. His record-tying performance allowed him to jump 35 spots on the leaderboard Sunday.
Hadwin’s record-tying round came earlier in the tournament, but he kept up the heat throughout, allowing him to tie for second place. Despite not being able to come out on top in the playoff, Hadwin was “stoked” with how he played Sunday.
“I’m through the roof right now,” Hadwin said. “I mean, I got myself into a playoff at the end of the day, that’s what you want. You want a chance, you want a chance to win a golf tournament and I guess I kind of had a chance coming up 18, an outside chance.”
Landry tied for 64th place after finishing his round 3 over Sunday and 7-under in the tournament.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Rickie Fowler says Detroit fans ‘were amazing’ at Rocket Mortgage