Detroit — It’s been almost a year since Patrick Wilkes-Krier earned his spot in the 2026 Rocket Classic.
So, how much time has he spent thinking about this week at Detroit Golf Club?
“I think about it when I wake up, and I think about it all day till I go to sleep,” Wilkes-Krier said Tuesday night, hanging around the putting green after an afternoon practice round. “And then I usually dream about it, too.”
Gotcha. In other words, a lot.
Wilkes-Krier, 42, an Ann Arbor native and longtime teaching pro in Metro Detroit, is one of two locals in this week’s 147-player field at the Rocket Classic, playing his way in by winning the Michigan PGA Championship last August. The other local player is Detroiter and Wayne State alum Joe Hooks, who played in last year’s Rocket after winning the John Shippen Invitational; he was given a sponsor’s exemption to return for this year’s tournament.
This is just the second-ever start on the PGA Tour for Wilkes-Krier, who played in the 2016 U.S. Open, where he missed the cut. That was a major championship. This, of course, isn’t, but don’t try telling him that.
“It’s like a major … it’s a PGA Tour event but it’s in Detroit, right? In my back yard,” Wilkes-Krier said. “I’m really, really happy to be able to play in this and kind of check it off my list.
“I’ll be even happier if I can kick ass.
“It’s gonna be awesome.”
Even more awesome, his two kids, daughter Azalea, 11, and son, Muse, 8, will be able to see their dad play against some of the best players in the world. Wife Whitney and the kids are coming out this week, working around their summer camp schedules.
When Wilkes-Krier played in the U.S. Open, his daughter was 1, and his son wasn’t born yet.
“I want them to see me kind of inside the ropes,” he said. “That was one of the first things that popped in my head when I got the qualification for this, right? It’s like, oh my God!
“I think it’ll really blow their mind when they see all this stuff, and then it’s like, I’m playing in this.
“That’ll be kind of cool.”
Speaking of cool, Wilkes-Krier, an Ann Arbor Huron High alum, had quite the neat experience during his practice round Tuesday. On his second nine, he joined a group that included 21-year-old Jackson Koivun.
Koivun won the 3M Open on Sunday in just his third PGA Tour start as a professional, and is generating big buzz on the grounds of Detroit Golf Club this week. Koivun, who ran away from world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler to win the 3M Open, has drawn rave reviews this week in Detroit, including from two-time major champ Xander Schauffele, who said, “I think of when I was in college and what that looked like, and it did not look like that.”
Story checks out, Wilkes-Krier can confirm.
“That kid’s incredible,” he said. “It was a little intimidating, and I don’t often feel intimidated by 21-year-olds. So that was kind of weird. He hit it really good. It was like just dead straight over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. (Yes, that’s eight overs, if you’re counting).
“He made it look so easy.”
Golf, of course, isn’t easy for anybody, and it’s very hard for most — even elite players like Wilkes-Krier, who played his college golf at Ball State before turning pro and becoming an instructor at the Kendall Academy under longtime friend and mentor Dave Kendall. These days, Wilkes-Krier owns the Ypsilanti teaching academy that bears the name of his mentor, who died at 70 in September, just weeks after the biggest win of Wilkes-Krier’s career, from cancer.
Wilkes-Krier has done the mini-tours, and got a few tastes of tournaments on the Korn Ferry Tour over the years, most recently in 2023. He’s won a Golf Association of Michigan Championship and played in the U.S. Amateur last year. He’s had a few hits and more heartbreak, all of it leading to this week in Detroit, where he has expectations of playing well, and dreams of a high finish.
“I want to win so bad, it’d change my life. I would love to be top 10. I mean, that would be amazing, and I’d get to play next week, too. To play well and finish top 40 or something like that … I would love to make the cut. All of that makes it feel … pressure-packed,” said Wilkes-Krier. Despite his local ties, he hasn’t played Detroit Golf Club all that much, not that it’ll be too much of a disadvantage, given the course is new to every player with the $16.1 million renovation that’s debuting this week.
“And I also remember that I’m really happy and lucky and feel good that I’m here at all.”
Wilkes-Krier tees off at 2:22 p.m. Thursday on the 10th tee, playing alongside John VanDerLaan and Jeffrey Kang. Hooks tees off at 8:50 a.m. Thursday on the 10th tee, playing with Patrick Fishburn and Keita Nakajima.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Nine holes with Jackson Koivun? Ann Arbor pro living dream at Rocket
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
