Steve Palmer's Rocket Mortgage Classic final-round preview, best bets, free tips

Golf tips, best twoball bets and player analysis for the final round of Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club on the PGA Tour.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Golf red button, 1.15pm Sunday

Best bets

Joaquin Niemann to win twoball
3pts 4-5 general

Cam Davis to win twoball
2pts 10-11 general

Joel Dahmen to win twoball
1pt 7-5 Betfair, Power

Story so far

Joaquin Niemann and Troy Merritt are joint-leaders of the Rocket Mortgage Classic with a round to play - the American and the Chilean have reached 14 under par through 54 holes.

Niemann, 28-1 at the start of the week, is 2-1 favourite going into Sunday, while Merritt, an ante-post 110-1 chance, can be backed at 4-1.

Sunshine, temperatures of 30C and light breezes are forecast for the final round, so the course is set to get firmer and faster for the denouement.

PGA Tour maidens Hank Lebioda and Cam Davis are tied for third place, only a shot behind, and 24 players are within five shots of the lead.

Leaderboard
-14 Troy Merritt, Joaquin Niemann
-13 Hank Lebioda, Cam Davis
-12 Brandon Hagy
-11 Jason Kokrak, Kevin Kisner, Richy Werenski, Pat Perez, Chris Kirk, Tom Lewis

Best prices
2 J Niemann, 4 T Merritt, 13-2 C Davis, 9 H Lebioda, 14 J Kokrak, 22 K Kisner, 25 B Hagy, 28 C Kirk, 40 bar

Final-round preview

Joaquin Niemann has gone three rounds without dropping a shot at Detroit Golf Club and the gifted 22-year-old clearly relishes the dimensions of this venue. He finished fifth in his only other Rocket Mortgage Classic start - two years ago.

In the 2019 edition, Niemann carded a bogey-free Sunday 68, and a repeat of that today might be enough to allow him to join the small group of players who have gone bogey-free en route to victory on the PGA Tour. JT Poston (2019 Wyndham Championship) was the last to do it, with Lee Trevino (1974 Greater New Orleans Open) the previous Tour champion to keep his scorecard blemish-free.

Niemann did not putt as well on Saturday as he did the first two days, but he found more fairways, and there has been enough encouragement in every department of his game for his backers to have high hopes of collecting.

Niemann, a 25-1 Racing Post Sport pre-tournament recommendation, fully deserves clear favouritism. The youngster, maturing physically as well as mentally, is a former world number one amateur who appears to be developing into an elite pro. He won his maiden PGA Tour title from the front, romping to a six-shot success in the 2019 Greenbrier, and there is every reason to expect a positive Sunday performance.

The concern for Niemann backers is the size of the chasing pack. With no significant breeze forecast, a birdie-fest seems likely, so one or two of the pursuers will probably throw a super-low round at the leaders.

All things considered, the main dangers to Niemann may turn out to be Cam Davis and Jason Kokrak. Davis appears to have followed the example of Freddie Jacobson, who got his name officially changed from Fredrik to Freddie on PGA Tour channels when he was a Tour star. Cameron Davis is no more - he wants be called Cam - but no matter what the moniker, it is the same sweet-swinging Australian.
Davis is one of the best maidens on the PGA Tour and he came close in the American Express at the end of January, beaten only by Si Woo Kim and Patrick Cantlay.

From only one behind, Davis could make the Rocket Mortgage his breakthrough event, while Kokrak will be fancying his chances from only three shots off the pace.

Kokrak has been awesome from tee to green this week, making the game look easy, but endured a nightmare with putter in hand. Any warming of the flat-stick in round four and a Kokrak charge from sixth place seems assured.

Kokrak - at 28-1 - was also in the Racing Post Sport pre-tournament staking plan, so perhaps it would be sensible to add Davis at 13-2. Niemann and Kokrak are already Tour champions, though, so may be more poised down the stretch if it turns into a three-way contest between the trio.

Niemann (7.05pm UK and Ireland time) and Davis (6.55pm) can be fancied for their final-round twoballs - against Troy Merritt and Hank Lebioda respectively - while Joel Dahmen is worth chancing against Jason Day (4pm). Day's back provides a constant source of concern for the Aussie, and the firming of the track will help Dahmen.

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