The 2026 Rocket Classic has been an exercise in variability. Just ask fan-favorite Rickie Fowler.
Fowler was one of several golfers with an up-and-down performance in the second round of the 2026 Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club on Friday, July 31. He briefly held the tournament lead in the afternoon but went into the weekend tied for fourth with a 2 under par second round, bringing him to 9-under overall.
Taking the lead in the morning were Patrick Cantlay and world No. 3 Cameron Young, with Young tying the course record of 61 with a 9-under Friday to wrest the lead from Peter Malnati (who tied the record Thursday, then finished 1-over Friday to sit at 8-under).
Joining Young and Cantlay in the afternoon was Patrick Fishburn, who hasn't finished higher than 19th at any PGA Tour event in 2026 but is at 10-under after two rounds, creating a three-way tie atop the leaderboard.
But despite the relatively unheralded Fishburn's top-tier round, the afternoon belonged to Fowler – even if it didn't have the best finish for him.
Rickie Fowler takes (and loses) brief lead
Fowler lost the lead on Friday just as quickly as he got it.
Beginning the day at 7-under and tied for second, Fowler birdied three of his first five holes to bring himself into a tie for first place. Five holes later, Fowler marked a beautiful shot over the bunker on approach, eventually picking up a birdie at No. 10 to go 11-under with the lead all his own.
That was short-lived, however.
Fowler missed a 4-foot putt for par on 11 to bring him back down to 10-under, and then after a par on 12 he launched his ball into the fescue from his first shot on No. 13.
That led to his second bogey of the round as Fowler suddenly fell from the top position, and a missed birdie attempt on 14 didn’t help his cause. The round hit its nadir at 17, a hole Fowler bogeyed for the second day in a row.
The affable Fowler didn’t seem too bothered by his performance, however.
“Bogeys are gonna happen,” he said. “One three-putt, and two spots where it got out of position off the tee. One was off the tee and one was coming into the green there on 17.”
The 17th hole has seen arguably the biggest change in the course's renovation despite not much of a cosmetic overhaul, with the par-5 hole turning into a long par-4 before the tournament.
"Seventeen's a tough hole," Fowler said.
Fowler recovered, however, with a beautiful approach 155 yards away on his second shot on No. 18, landing his fifth birdie of the day to finish the round in second place.
“Nice to finish with a birdie on 18,” he said. “A lot of good stuff today, and nice to be in a good spot for the weekend.”
Despite some misses in execution, Fowler seems confident that he can parlay his performance from the first two days into a good final result.
“If I needed to work on some stuff, I probably wouldn’t be in the position I’m in right now,” he said with a grin.
Patrick Cantlay a model of consistency
The irregular performances extended beyond Fowler.
Malnati, who tied a course record by shooting a 9-under 61 on Thursday to take the tournament lead after the first round, bogeyed three of his first five holes on Friday to drop him below the top position (though he birdied twice on the front nine to help climb back into the top-15). Young, on the other hand, matched Malnati’s 9-under with a 9-under of his own in the second round on Friday, one day after shooting a comparatively paltry 1-under.
Defending champion Aldrich Potgieger was near the bottom of the pack after shooting 6-over in the first round on Thursday. World No. 14 J.J. Spaun had an eagle, five birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey in a wild second round and still somehow matched his 3-under from round 1. Two-time Rocket champion Cam Davis finished the second round at 5-over on Friday after going 2-under in the first round on Thursday.
But one golfer reached the top of the pack by the virtue of sheer consistency – Cantlay, whose 4-under in the second round brought him into a share of the lead with Young at the end of the morning session.
“It obviously played pretty easy this morning,” Cantlay said. “You can see Cameron [Young] went low today, made a bunch of birdies. I didn't get off to the quickest start, and I was just out of position on some holes that really change, you know, change the hole quite a bit.”
Cantlay’s performance was nowhere near scintillating, as he birdied his first hole of the day on the back nine and shot at par for the next eight holes. But with no backbreaking shots through the rest of the day, plus three extra birdies on the front nine, Cantlay combined a 6-under first round and a 4-under second for the tournament lead, coming within one stroke of surpassing Young at the end of the round.
“I was pretty pleased to get through that first nine this morning and not make any bogeys. Kind of kept the momentum and then played a pretty decent second nine today,” he said.
Cantlay, whose last PGA Tour win came at the 2022 BMW Championship, will have to fend off several strong contenders to stay near the top, especially with Young and Fowler showing out in a tournament they’ve both found great success at. But with the Rocket bringing scoring records as often as it rips scorecards, Cantlay’s consistency may be enough to stay ahead of some of the biggest names in the sport.
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You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ex-champ Rickie Fowler loses lead in wild 2nd round at Rocket Classic
