Four amateurs teed it up this week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic including Luke Clanton, Ben James, Jackson Koivun and 15-year-old Miles Russell. Reining Masters and U.S. Open Low Amateur Neal Shipley also got a sponsor’s exemption this week, but he made his PGA Tour pro debut at Detroit Golf Club.
It’s clear the organizers of the young Detroit Tour stop are keen to open up their event to the game’s next generation, but in an odd way, they’re also helping out the regular professionals on the PGA Tour.
Ahead of the tournament on Tuesday, Min Woo Lee offered a well wish for the high school sophomore Russell, who’s already turned heads contending at a Korn Ferry Tour event earlier this year.
“Hopefully he has fun and doesn’t beat me, but does well,” Lee said.
But, from a financial point of view, it doesn’t really matter if Russell, or Clanton — who made the cut and was three shots back after 54-holes, or any of the amateurs beat Lee this week. While players in college and high school are able to sign NIL contracts and earn money that way, they still can’t collect prize money on the PGA Tour.
If an amateur was to win, as Nick Dunlap did earlier this year at the American Express, they don’t get any winnings and the first-place share goes to the runner-up. Christiaan Bezuidenhout benefited from Dunlap’s win in January, taking home $1.512 million. Ironically, Clanton finished tied with Dunlap this week.
But now with NIL, as Clanton admitted Saturday night, players might be tempted to stay in college longer since they can get paid in addition to their scholarships.
“Yeah. Again, like I play golf to play golf,” Clanton explained. “I think being able to play golf with your buddies every single day, it’s something you don’t get very much. I’ve got 12 dudes on that team that I absolutely love, so it’s awesome.”
He’s definitely playing golf to play golf this week because he won’t get a penny from this week’s purse.
With that, below you can check out the complete payout breakdown for this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detriot Golf Club . The total purse is $9.2 million.
How much every player made at the 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic
1. Cameron Davis, $1.656 million
T2. Davis Thompson, $616,400 Min Woo Lee Akshay Bhatia Aaron Rai
T6. Rico Hoey, $300,150 Eric Cole Erik van Rooyen Cameron Young
T10. Taylor Moore, $206,233.33 J.J. Spaun Dylan Wu Hayden Springer Nick Dunlap Luke Clanton (a) Sam Stevens
T17. David Skinns, $149,500 Troy Merritt Ben Silverman
T20. Carl Yuan, $113,068 Andrew Novak Patton Kizzire Ben Kohles Neal Shipley
T25. Nate Lashley, $74,980 Matt Kuchar Patrick Fishburn Justin Lower Jhonattan Vegas Joel Dahmen
T31. Nicholas Lindheim, $48,583.08 Ben Griffin Kevin Yu Ryan McCormick Ryo Hisatsune Jacob Bridgeman Harry Hall Roger Sloan Max Greyserman Beau Hossler Jake Knapp Rickie Fowler Patrick Rodgers
T44. Taylor Montgomery, $29,164 Maverick McNealy Blaine Hale, Jr. Brandon Wu Ryan Moore Ben James (a) Chris Kirk Hayden Buckley
T52. Matti Schmid, $22,650.40 Mark Hubbard Bud Cauley Nick Hardy Michael Kim
T57. Davis Riley, $21,160 Callum Tarren Kevin Streelman Robby Shelton Vince Whaley Joe Highsmith
Jack Hirsh is the Associate Equipment Editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.