Akshay Bhatia stays on a heater, Rickie Fowler on the yips among 5 things to know at the first round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic

When Akshay Bhatia skipped college and turned professional in 2019, he did so with visions of becoming a PGA Tour winner.

The 22-year-old Bhatia has won twice in the last 12 months and got off to a fast start in pursuit of a third on Thursday. He pitched in for eagle at 17 to shoot 8-under 64 at Detroit Golf Club and take the first-round lead at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit.

It marked his third round of 64 or better in his last five rounds after doing so just three times in his prior 61 rounds. Bhatia finished T-5 last week at the Travelers Championship, his 10th top-25 finish this season, and played the final two rounds in the same group with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler for the first time.

“It was a really cool experience for me. I got to see what it’s like. He’s just something different. I think everyone’s trying to chase what he’s doing but he makes the game look easy,” Bhatia said.

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And Bhatia is looking forward to another week of being in the hunt. “This is what I dreamt about for a while was trying to chase those feelings of feeling your heart pump and feeling your hands shake and all the adrenaline,” he said. “It’s something that I love so much.”

This week he’s the top dog in the field — at least based on this season’s FedEx Cup points standings. He entered the week 15th in the FedEx Cup and ranked No. 29 in the Official World Golf Ranking, proving that his unconventional path to the PGA Tour was the right one for him.

“It feels like everything is coming together,” said Bhatia, who won the Valero Texas Open in April. Bhatia was just 2 under through 11 holes when he holed an 11-foot birdie at No. 12. Bhatia hit 17 greens and ranked third in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green. He capped off his back-nine birdie-fest with a 6-foot putt at 18 to shoot 30 on the inward nine. His bogey-free 64 was a stroke better than Taylor Montgomery and Michael Kim.

Here are five more things to know from the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Montgomery battling shoulder injuries

Taylor Montgomery plays his shot from the 14th tee during the first round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club on June 27, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Raj Mehta/Getty Images)

Taylor Montgomery was all smiles until he broke into tears.

Montgomery went out in 30 and tacked on another birdie to post a bogey-free 7-under 65.

“I haven’t seen one of those in a while,” he said of his clean card. “I went out there and surprised myself.”

Montgomery was playing for the first time since early May when he withdrew from the CJ Cup after shooting an opening-round 80. Since a T-11 at the Players in March, he’s missed three cuts and had to withdraw twice. Montgomery said an MRI revealed he has tears in both shoulders. He said he’s been doing rehab exercises for 30-45 minutes every day.

“I want to win so bad, and I’m out and I can’t play, I don’t know, it’s frustrating,” he said to Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis during an emotional interview as tears welled in his eyes.

Fowler fights the ‘yips’

PGA golfer Rickie Fowler tees off, during round one of the Rocket Mortgage Classic at the Detroit Golf Club in Detroit on Thursday, June 27, 2024.

Defending champion Rickie Fowler got off to a great title defense with a bogey-free 66.

Fowler birdied four of his final five holes, including a 15-footer at the last. He gained nearly 3 strokes to the field on the greens in the first round. Fowler had gone back to a conventional grip earlier this season but switched back to using a cross-handed grip the last three weeks.

“Over the last few years, I’ve dealt with a little bit of my right hand having a bit of twitch at times, which you could call it some kind of a yip, there are different kind of names for it,” said Fowler, who bravely said the word yip aloud. “It makes it tough to trust hitting good putts. Going back to cross-handed locks my right hand and wrist a little more to where I’m able to use that as the driver and carry it forward with touch again.”

Fowler has an early second round tee time and looked forward to getting on fresh greens in the morning.

Zalatoris finds his fade

Will Zalatoris greets Rickie Fowler at the Rocket Mortgage Classic at the Detroit Golf Club in Detroit on Thursday, June 27, 2024. (Photo: Kimberly P. Mitchell-USA TODAY NETWORK)

Will Zalatoris finished with a flurry – five birdies in his final six holes to shoot 66.

“I was just told I made 159 feet of putts, which definitely helps,” Zalatoris said after the round.

Indeed, it does. He poured in a 47-foot birdie at 14 and a 29-footer at 18.

The good news is that Willy Z thinks he has figured out his fade. “I lost the ability to hit kind of the low fade, which is my go-to, for about two months there, and finally we kind of picked up on what I needed to do just kind of messing around on the range on Monday,” Zalatoris said. “It’s nice that it’s finally clicking.”

Zalatoris said it has been a bit of a struggle coming back from back surgery this season and it has tested his patience, most notably when he missed the cut at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.

“It’s been a grind this year to put it mildly coming back from surgery, trying to integrate the changes, and I feel like I put one round together and then maybe kind of don’t have it another day. So I didn’t really see much positives for about a month there, and it’s nice to see a couple low rounds already. I put a lot of work in after the U.S. Open,” he said. “I was less than pleased is probably the nicest way I can put it with my performance there. Yeah, everything feels really good.”

Russell’s debut

Amateur Miles Russell of the United States plays an approach shot on the 14th hole during the first round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club on June 27, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Raj Mehta/Getty Images)

Miles Russell isn’t old enough to get into the men’s locker room at Detroit Golf Club, but they are making an exception for the 15-year-old whipper-snapper this week. Playing on a sponsor exemption, the AJGA Player of the Year shot 2-over 74 in his PGA Tour debut.

“Today was a great day,” he said. “For it to be the first, definitely wasn’t quite what I was hoping for, but we live, we learn, we move on.”

Asked how the nerves felt on the first tee on a scale of 1-10, Russell called them a 7.

“That’s probably my best drive of the day, should have been nervous all day,” he said.

Russell carded two birdies, one bogey and a double bogey. Known for his short game, Russell ranked No. 145 in Strokes Gained: Around the Green.

But it was a great experience for the talented teen, who recorded a T-20 finish on the Korn Ferry Tour in April, and he’ll have another shot at playing in the big time on Friday.

“Korn Ferry was pretty cool, but I think this is going to one-up it a little bit,” he said. “This is definitely a little better.”

Shot of the day
As the saying goes, it’s better to be lucky than good. Nate Lashley can attest. His 4-iron at the 217-yard 11th hole cleared the bunker but landed in the rough before taking a friendly bounce and hopping into the hole for an ace. That marked his first hole-in-one on the PGA Tour.

“It’s something I’ll always remember,” he said. “It was one of those shots, it was just a little right of the pin. I was hoping for it to carry the bunker and it must have just taken a perfect bounce and went in the hole. Pretty decent shot, but also a lot of luck involved there.”

The first ace of his career on his second hole of the tournament!

What a start to the week @RocketClassic for @NateLashley 👏 https://t.co/MzOHotnnir pic.twitter.com/VUxJcDDx4K

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 27, 2024

It was Lashley’s first ace on Tour but he also has one on the Korn Ferry Tour and another in a practice round at Pebble Beach at No. 7.

“I’ve had 12, I think,” said Lashley, who shot 2-under 70.