Seven PGA Tour players withdraw from Rocket Classic including six-time winner

Six players have withdrawn from this week's Rocket Classic including six-time PGA Tour winner Tony Finau. 

The PGA Tour returns to a full field 156-player field with a cut at Detroit Golf Club in Michigan.

There are just eight more remaining events on the PGA Tour schedule until the start of the season-ending FedEx Cup Playoffs. 

Thankfully, all three of our golf betting tips for the Rocket Classic remain in the field.

GolfMagic is going in search of a fourth consecutive winning tip on the PGA Tour, so you might just want to check out who we are backing at the Rocket Classic this week. 

We've successfully landed 40/1, 66/1 and 100/1 each-way tips the last two weeks. 

But back to the top of the story, and the PGA Tour has confirmed so far that seven players will not be taking part in the Rocket Classic after withdrawing from the tournament.

The biggest name to withdraw from the Rocket Classic is without question six-time PGA Tour winner Tony Finau.

Big-hitting Finau has played in five of the last six US Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams dating back to 2018. 

But after picking up just one top-10 finish so far on the PGA Tour this season, Finau looks in severe danger of missing out on a second consecutive US Ryder Cup team. 

Finau is currently on the outside looking in at 19th in the US Ryder Cup standings.

He has also fallen from out of the world's top 10 to a current 44th. 

No official reason has yet been given for Finau's WD from the Rocket Classic. 

He finished T66 in the limited field 72-player Travelers Championship last week. 

Four-time winner Charley Hoffman and one-time winner Kevin Yu have also pulled out. 

Christiaan Bezuidenhout is also out, as too are Eric Cole, Tim Widing and Brandon Matthews. 

All seven players have been replaced in the field by Joseph Bramlett, Braden Thornberry, Paul Waring, Harrison Endycott, Anders Albertson, David Ford and Hayden Springer.

Former LIV Golf player James Piot has also earned a late sponsor's invite into the field. 

Piot, who won the 2021 US Amateur, used to play on Phil Mickelson's HyFlyers LIV team. 

But after competing on the first two seasons, Piot ended the 2023 season in the relegation zone and he wasn't invited back. 

Piot, 26, has since been looking to build his way back up the ranks via the Asian Tour's International Series.

He's only played three times so far this season, and he's missed the cut twice. 

Piot is eligible to play on the PGA Tour because he did not have status on the PGA Tour when he took up a card to play on LIV Golf in 2022. 

Piot becomes the second former LIV Golf player to compete on the PGA Tour this season,  following Laurie Canter who competed in The Players Championship in March.

Canter, who has returned to the DP World Tour this season, missed the cut at The Players Championship. 

Piot received a sponsor's exemption into this week's event as a result of his ties to Michigan where he was born. 

He represented Michigan State as a junior.  

Collin Morikawa is the pre-tournament favourite (14/1) at the Rocket Classic.

Other players towards the front of the market on the eve of the event include Patrick Cantlay, Ben Griffin, Hideki Matsuyama, Cameron Young and last week's winner and US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley. 

Golf legend Laura Davies believes Europe would benefit should Bradley decide to become the first playing captain of a Ryder Cup team since  late great Arnold Palmer in 1963.

Davies also doesn't think Tiger Woods would accept the captaincy should Bradley want to pass on the armband.