DETROIT (AP) 鈥� The next will be the last.
鈥淎fter nearly 13 years as a title sponsor, including eight years in Detroit, 2026 will mark the final Rocket Classic,鈥� tournament director Mark Hollis announced Tuesday. 鈥淲e are incredibly proud of what this tournament has meant to the city, from creating unforgettable moments for fans to raising more than $10 million for local organizations.鈥�
Aldrich Potgieter will be the defending champion on July 30 when the final tournament begins at Detroit Golf Club. is a two-time Rocket Classic champion and is among the previous winners at the tournament.
Rocket Mortgage drew the world’s top golf circuit back to Michigan in 2019, replacing the Quicken Loans National that had been run by the Tiger Woods Foundation in the Washington, D.C., area.
It gave the state a PGA Tour stop for the first time since at Warwick Hills, but the Detroit-based mortgage company doesn’t seem to be interested in being part of the next era of golf.
The PGA Tour is moving to a new model for 2028 at the earliest with two tracks of tournaments, including one with elevated events that will have larger purses for the better players. The Rocket Classic has never been able to attract a star-filled field to the Motor City as it has moved around on the calendar, often squeezed between majors or after the majors and before the FedEx Cup playoffs.
鈥淲hat you are going to see is an elevation of tournaments,” Brian Rolapp, the new CEO at the PGA Tour, said last week. “I think what we have found as we鈥檝e talked to sponsors both for Track 1 and Track 2, there鈥檚 a lot of demand for both. And the price points will be different.
“The bigger events, not everyone can afford and may not be sort of consistent with their business goals. That鈥檚 great. There鈥檚 other price points too for it, and I think there鈥檚 plenty of demand for both Track 1 and Track 2 in that regard because there鈥檚 definitely people who want to invest different amounts in these events.鈥�
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AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson contributed.
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