The Punter's In-Play Blog: Three tied for the lead at the Rocket Classic

08:30 - August 1, 2026 - Tight at the top with 20 players within three of the lead

In his first start since his narrow defeat in the Open Championship two weeks ago, the pre-event 12.523/2 favourite, Cameron Young, started the Rocket Classic slowly on Thursday afternoon with a lacklustre one-under-par 69 that saw him trailing the first-round leader, Peter Malnati, by eight strokes.

The world number three drifted all the way out to 44.043/1 but he got his skates on yesterday morning and, after a nine-under-par 61, he's now tied for the lead with Patrick Cantlay and Patrick Fishburn.

Here's the 36-hole leaderboard with prices to back at 8:20.

Cameron Young -10 3.929/10
Patrick Cantlay -10 6.411/2
Patrick Fishburn -10 28.027/1
Rickie Fowler -9 15.529/2
Matt Wallace -9 23.022/1
Xander Schauffele -8 12.523/2
Ryan Gerard -8 25.024/1
Doug Ghim -8 30.029/1
Michael Brenan -8 32.031/1
Michael Kim -8 40.039/1
Chris Kirk -8 46.045/1
Davis Riley -8 120.0119/1
Peter Malnati -8 180.0179/1
-7 and 55.054/1 bar

Nate Lashley won the inaugural edition of the Rocket Classic wire-to-wire in 2019, and no winner has trailed by more than three strokes at halfway, but Langley is the only one of the seven winners to date to be leading or tied for the lead after two rounds.

That's a bit of a negative for the three co-leaders and, with as many 20 players separated by three strokes, this is a very difficult tournament to assess with two rounds to go.

World number three the man to beat

The obvious place to start is with Young and he's quite rightly heading the market.

He found form this time last year, finally getting off the mark on the PGA Tour at next week's event, the Wyndham Championship, which is also staged at a Donald Ross-designed course - Sedgefield Country Club.

Young was three clear in the Wyndham at halfway and he was five in front at this stage when he won the Cadillac Championship by six in May.

Young also converted a couple of clear halfway leads on the Korn Ferry Tour back in 2021, but he finished sixth in the John Deere Classic in 2023, having led by two at halfway, and he finished third in the Dubai Desert Classic in January 2024, having led by three after 36 holes. He's never been tied for the lead at halfway on any Tour.

Now that he's won three times on the PGA Tour, we should be able to rely on Young to kick on here and get the job done but it's only two weeks since he lost his way in round three at Birkdale.

Trailing by two at the halfway stage, Young was a 6.411/2 chance with two rounds to play but he was trailing by seven in a tie for 20^th with 18 to play after a 73 on Saturday.

He bounced back in style on Sunday and, but for a bogey five at the last, he'd have been in a playoff with Ryan Fox.

Whether we can read too much into that Saturday slip up is debatable but given how condensed this leaderboard is, how hard it is to back up a super low round, and that we've seen a dozen men lead or co-lead since Lashley won here wire-to-wire in 2019 without going on to win, Young looks short enough at less than 3/14.00. And that's before we look at his putting stats.

Unsurprisingly for a traditionally low scoring event, putting has been key to success at Detroit Golf Club and, at the halfway stage, Young ranks 24^th for Putting Average and only 51^st for Strokes Gained: Putting.

Looking at the stats, Matt Wallace, Ryan Gerard and Michael Brenan are all putting very nicely so far this week but the one I'm going to chance modestly is one of last year's beaten playoff protagonists, Chris Kirk, who trails by two in a tie for sixth.

Course specialist chanced at halfway

Kirk needs to hole a few more putts over the weekend but given he clearly loves the venue, he looks fractionally big at 46.045/1.

Kirk was tied for the lead at halfway 12 months ago before getting beat in extra time and he was also tied at the top through 36 holes back in 2020.

He fell to 21^st over the weekend in 2020 and he finished 14^th 12 months later, having sat third at halfway, but last year's improved weekend performance will give him some encouragement.

Kirk partners my pre-event pick, Xander Schauffele, who also looks nicely priced at halfway at around 12/113.00.

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