DETROIT — Somebody else will have to be the one to drive him here, but Miles Russell, the 15-year-old who took the Korn Ferry Tour by storm earlier this year when he became the youngest player to finish top 20 in a PGA Tour sanctioned event, will make his PGA Tour debut in Detroit this summer.
Russell, a Jacksonville Beach, Florida, native, received a sponsor exemption for the event and will become the youngest golfer to play in the 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic, the tournament announced on social media as the event’s media days kicked off at Detroit Golf Club on Monday morning.
Russell’s father is scheduled to drive his son in the courtesy car to the club during the tournament, Rocket Mortgage Classic director Jason Langwell said. But Russell will be doing the driving on the course, which is not the only strength of his game, as evidenced by his performance at the Lecom Suncoast Classic in April. His week there included a 5-under 66 on Sunday as he carded seven birdies in a 10-hole stretch to finish at 14 under for the tournament. He ended up tied for 20th.
It’s only part of the reason the American Junior Golf Association ranks Russell as the No. 1 rated boys high school golf prospect in the nation.
“This is a place that we think of future stars starting here,” Langwell said. “We certainly put Miles in that category. He’s going to be one of the youngest players ever to make his PGA Tour debut, high school freshman.”
Of course, Russell wasn’t the only one of the names added to the field Monday morning. A handful of top 50 players in the world and notable names such as Chris Kirk, Min Woo Lee, Francesco Molinari, Nicolai Hojgaard, Webb Simpson and Nick Dunlap were all announced as part of the field.
Kirk, the world No. 28, won the Sentry back in January for his sixth victory on Tour, and returns to the field after a solid performance in 2023 when he shot all four rounds in the 60s.
Lee, the world No. 35, has four international wins and four top-10 finishes on Tour.
Hojgaard, the World No. 40 who made his Ryder Cup debut for team Europe last year, finished T-21 in the 2023 Rocket.
Molinari, the 2018 Open Championship winner, will make his debut in Detroit while fellow major winner, Webb Simpson, who took home the 2012 U.S. Open, returns to the field with seven PGA Tour wins to his record and Nick Dunlap, a 20-year old who became the first amateur to win on Tour in more than three decades in January.
Rickie Fowler poses with the trophy…
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