Rocket Mortgage Classic First-Round Leader Tips: Picks from 40/1 to 66/1

• 66/167.00 Lee Hodges has previous R1 history here

• 66/167.00 Andrew Novak has been a consistent fast starter in 2024

• 40/141.00 Akshay Bhatia keeps going low on Thursdays

Weather forecast for Thursday

It's a sunny day in Detroit with temperatures rising to 75 degrees in the afternoon.

Winds are around 7-9mph although they could blow a little more in the morning.

Historically, the early starters have posted the best scores. Of the nine players to have had a piece of the first-round lead in this event which only started in 2019, seven teed off in the morning wave.

I'll take that on board and back two early and one late.

Lee Hodges @ 66/167.00

Lee Hodges has some first-round leader history at Detroit GC after opening with a 66 in 2022 to sit third.

Another 66 on day two maintained his top three position.

Last July he used an 18-hole lead at the 3M Open to run out the winner there by a whopping seven shots and there are some good correlations between that event and this one.

Ask Tony Finau, who won both tournaments back-to-back two years ago.

More recently Hodges has been in the top five after day one of the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Wells Fargo Championship.

Strong with his approach play, if a few putts drop, Hodges can shine from his 07.51 tee-time.

Andrew Novak @ 66/167.00

Since last year's Rocket Mortgage Classic, Andrew Novak has finished day one in the top 10 on eight occasions.

Five of those have come in his last 12 events and the most recent on his latest start where he opened with a 66 in the Canadian Open.

He's had three weeks off since then so will be raring to go again after sitting out the run of big events.

Novak doesn't have any form on this course but, excuse the pun, it doesn't require rocket science to work it out and he's played some excellent golf this season.

He ranks 16th for Tee-To-Green while 29th in R1 scoring suggests he's worth a go.

Novak also tees off at 07.51, hitting away from the 1st as Hodges sends his opening drive off the 10th.

Akshay Bhatia @ 40/141.00

My afternoon starter (12.43) is the in-form Akshay Bhatia, who is getting better by the week.

Since posting 22nd at The Memorial, he was 16th at the US Open and fifth at the Travelers Championship on Sunday.

All those good finishes have been fuelled by fast starts, Bhatia's first-round leader positions in those three events seventh, sixth and second.

Wind back to April and he was the Thursday pacesetter in the Texas Open after setting out with a 63. It helped him go on and lift the trophy.

Bhatia didn't make the cut here last year despite a Friday 69 but, again, that's no worry.

Better to concentrate on his current form which he's showing straight out of the gate.

Read Dave's each-way Rocket Mortgage preview here