Fowler, Cantlay impress as Malnati leads after threatening 59 round

Peter Malnati has a two-shot lead after shooting an impressive bogey-free nine under in the first round of the Rocket Classic in Detroit; watch the second round of the Rocket Classic from 7pm on Friday, live on Sky Sports Golf

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>Rickie Fowler and Patrick Cantlay are in contention after the first round of the Rocket Classic in Detroit as leader Peter Malnati threatened a sensational sub-60 score.

>Malnati shot a career-best nine-under 61 to tie the tournament's record for the first round to take a two-shot lead over Fowler and Ryan Gerard, with Cantlay and Patrick Fishburn another shot back.

>When Malnati stood on the first tee, his caddie suggested leaving the driver in his bag to play it safe and set up a solid start.

>Malnati, though, went against the advice and used his driver to put a tee shot in the middle of the fairway that set up his first of seven birdies on the front nine.

>"Even in the beginning before I knew it was going to be a special day, I didn't feel the same level of like anxiety," he said.

>"I don't think I took advantage of a super easy course. I played great."

>With thoughts of a sub-60 round crossing his mind, he made a 55-foot putt for birdie at the 11th and was nine under through 13 holes before missing some putts down the stretch in a bogey-free round.

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>Detroit Golf Club underwent a $16 million renovation, including converting a couple of par-5 holes into par-4s and adding a lot of bunkers, in an attempt to restore Donald Ross' vision for it more than a century ago, while making it more challenging.

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>Fowler and Ryan Gerard shot 63s, putting them two shots back and one stroke ahead of Cantlay and Fishburn.

>Michael Brennan surged up the leaderboard after starting two over through four holes with eight straight birdies - one shy of the PGA Tour record.

>He finished with a 65, putting him four strokes back with a pack of players that includes Keegan Bradley, who appeared to be mocked by some spectators who pretended he hit a hole in one on the par-three fifth.

>Open runner-up Cameron Young has work to do on one under while US Open champion Wyndham Clark is on one over.

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>Despite significant changes at the course, Malnati and many other players still went low at a tournament that has been a birdie fest since 2019, when a Detroit-based mortgage company ended a decade-long drought in Michigan without a PGA Tour stop that dated to Tiger Woods winning the last Buick Open.

>The PGA Tour is moving to a new model for 2028, effectively creating two tours, and Detroit organizers are taking an exit. The Rocket Classic wasn't interested in continuing to spend $15 million a year to be part of the second tier and didn't want to double the costs to be part of the elite tier.

>"It's definitely been a bummer to kind of come into this knowing it was the last one," said Fowler, a Rocket Mortgage spokesman and the tournament's 2023 champion.

>Watch the second round of the Rocket Classic from 7pm, live on Sky Sports Golf. Get Sky Sports or stream golf with no contract