Detroit — No windows were broken, dang it.
But Rickie Fowler, good company man that he is as a longtime Rocket pitchman, did his best to go viral, plunking the side of the new Hudon’s building with one of his tee shots during Par 3 in the D.
“I kind of broke the ice, and then there was a couple others,” Fowler said as the sun was starting to set on downtown Detroit on a mild but breezy summer Tuesday night. “With the wind, the buildings were in play.
“Definitely probably one of the harder shots we’ve had to try and hit, between some buildings.
“This was great.”
Fowler and five other PGA Tour stars — world No. 3 Cameron Young, major champions Xander Schauffele and Keegan Bradley, and Russell Henley and Tony Finau — participated in the made-for-television exhibition ahead of this week’s Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club, as a crowd of hundreds looked on from the street, balconies and even apartments.
Each player had three swings off the fifth-story roof top of Bedrock’s Traver | UBS building, hitting across Woodward Avenue and onto Nick Gilbert Way, to a custom-built astroturf green below. There were some beauties, and some look-out-belows. The protective netting circling the green, turns out, was a good call.
The hole played 117 yards and featured a 90-foot drop from roof top to street level at the site of the new Hudson’s.
In other words, just a tad different than what Fowler and Finau are used to when teeing it up in Detroit, where they won the Rocket Classic in 2023 and 2022, respectively.
“The wind ended up picking up,” said Finau, “and it ended up being pretty tricky.”
Said Fowler: “There’s not much space down there.”
Added Finau: “But a lot of fun to be a part of.”
For record-keeping purposes, each player’s first two shots were practice, and the third counted. Schauffele’s third was closest at 10 feet, followed by Henley’s at 19 feet, 9 inches, and Finau’s at 22-5. The third shots of Fowler, Bradley and Young all missed the green, so each were registered at 36 feet, though Young’s two practice shots scared the hole.
To complete the Par 3 in the D, kids representing First Tee Greater Detroit and Midnight Golf, two of the charities that have benefitted greatly from Rocket’s $10-million-plus in nonprofit giving during the Rocket’s run, putted out.
The exhibition aired live on Golf Channel and WXYZ Channel 7.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Fowler’s errant shot highlights rooftop golf spectacle in downtown Detroit
Reporting by Tony Paul, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Tony Paul, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
