The Rocket Mortgage Classic will go ahead 'as planned' this week, despite wild storms sweeping through Michigan at the weekend, causing some damage to Detroit Golf Club.
Winds of between 70 and 80mph were reported in Detroit on Sunday, leaving more than 71,000 people in the city without power, according to local outlet Detroit News.
It cast much uncertainty over whether the Rocket Mortgage Classic would go ahead, with several videos and images emerging online of trees being torn up, showing just how ferocious the gales were.
Standing water can also be seen on several parts of the course but, after much tireless work from ground staff, Executive Director Jason Langwell, on Monday, confirmed that the course would be ready to play.
"We’ll be ready to go at 10am (Tuesday), as planned, opening the gates for our community days, our youth clinic, and our celebrity scramble plans. It’s been a great day and we’re in great shape to get things going tomorrow," he told the PGA Tour's website.
“We’ve been really fortunate. There’s no damage to any of our structures, no damage to the golf course whatsoever. Certainly, some branches down, sticks around, a few trees down, but a handful of companies have come out to help us. It’s just been a yeoman’s effort to get everything cleaned up, but we’ve got a great golf course ready for play.”
Our grounds team are already the MVPs of the week after a storm rolled through Sunday. 🙌 #RocketMortgageClassic pic.twitter.com/aTHuJuRcWIJune 26, 2023
The Executive also confirmed that no one was injured, whilst PGA Tour Senior Tournament Director, Stephen Cox, admitted that they were fortunate that no serious damage was caused.
“We got incredibly lucky,” Cox said. “The trees fell in the right direction. One fell on a car at the entrance to the club, and another fell in close proximity to the practice putting green and did some minor damage, but if it had fallen 4 or 5 feet to the right it would have been much worse.”
Several big names will be teeing it up this weekend in Detroit, including Max Homa, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa and defending champion, Tony Finau. Despite the storms, some have reportedly been out on the back nine playing practice rounds.
