Willie Mack III should be right at home in next week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club despite not having the guarantee of a sponsor exemption.
The Flint native played his way in with Sunday’s victory in the John Shippen Invitational, holding on with a 7-under victory at Detroit Golf Club in the two-day, 36-hole qualifying tournament featuring the nation’s top Black professional and amateur golfers.
Mack matched the goal he set for himself more than a month ago, as he told the Free Press he hoped to play his way into a second berth in the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Mack shot a 63 on Saturday, then followed with a 74 in Sunday’s final round.
“It’s always good to win, especially in conditions like these today,” Mack said. “I played well yesterday, wasn’t going my way today but I kind of just stuck in there, Keep telling myself I’m playing good and you’ll hit some good shots and hopefully something falls, and it did in the end.”
Mack finished two shots ahead of Nyasha Mauchaza at 5 under. Kevin Hall and Cameron Riley finished tied for third at 2 under and Greg Odom Jr. and Wyatt Worthington tied for fifth at 1 over. Mack also receives $13,200 for winning the John Shippen in the first year of the event having a championship purse.
Mack, 35, built a considerable lead on Saturday, firing a 9 under opener to enter Sunday with a five-shot lead. He racked up 10 birdies in the first round, resulting in a 30 on the back nine.
On Sunday, though, he had to grind through a tough front nine impacted by blustery winds, dropping to 6-under at the turn, with four bogeys and five pars. But Mack rallied to shoot a 34 on the back nine, including back-to-back birdies on 12 and 13 to create a four-shot cushion heading down the stretch.
“I was just making some sloppy bogies in the first eight holes, a couple of three-putts,” Mack said. “But, I still had a lead so I knew that in the back of my head and just keep plugging along. It was rough out there. Nobody was really making a move so if I could just string together some pars and maybe a couple birdies it could go my way, and I’m glad it did.”
The field also struggled with the wind, which picked up 5-10 mph between Saturday and Sunday, according to Mauchaza, and changed approaches on nearly every hole.
“You just had to be mindful of that, it was definitely harder,” said Mauchaza, who will attempt to nab one of the final four spots in the 156-person field via Monday’s qualifier at Detroit Golf Club.
Mack’s lead dipped to just one shot heading into the final hole after a bogey on the par-3 15th, following Mack’s long tee shot into the base of the grandstands and Mauchaza’s birdie on the par-5 17th. But Mauchaza, in the group just ahead of Mack, could only par 18; Mack rolled in an uphill birdie putt over 10 feet to lock in the victory. He did a quick fist-bump to celebrate on the hill of the 18th green afterward.
“I played that last hole like a championship hole,” Mack said
The 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic will be the second PGA Tour event this season for Mack; he qualified for the U.S. Open in Pinehurst, North Carolina, earlier this month, before narrowly missing the cut. He’ll be making his ninth PGA Tour appearance when he tees off in the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Thursday, and his second in Detroit after receiving an exemption into the field in 2021. In that tournament, he made the first PGA cut of his career before finishing tied for 71st.
“I played in the U.S. Open a week ago, and I’m probably more excited to play back in my hometown and in Michigan,” Mack said after receiving the John Shippen trophy on the 15th green. “Hopefully I can play well. This was my first cut made on the PGA Tour a couple of years ago.”