DETROIT — The man from Down Under is on top in Detroit, again.

Cam Davis made it a double-up in the Motor City on Sunday, when he survived unusually difficult conditions at Detroit Golf Club to win his second Rocket Mortgage Classic championship.

Davis won in 2021 in a playoff, and it looked like it might take another playoff to get his second PGA Tour victory, until Akshay Bhatia, the leader all the week, three-putted from 28 feet for a closing bogey, just his second bogey of the week. Davis shot a final-round 70 that he felt could've been, and should've been, much better, if not for a string of lipped-out putts. But it was good for an 18-under total, the same score he won with the last time, this time one stroke better than Bhatia, Aaron Rai, Davis Thompson and Min Woo Lee.

"It was a rollercoaster of emotions at the end there," Davis said during his winner's press conference Sunday night, the victor's trophy sitting a foot away. "I felt like honestly so much, especially that back nine, just moment after moment of could have been awesome, but just didn't quite happen. I felt like it just wasn't going to be my day.

"When Akshay missed that putt, it's a combination of shock and feeling bad for him, but at the same time just realizing that the huge burden of trying to win again is off the shoulders.

"Still in a little bit of shock. It doesn't really feel real right now."

Once a course that typically bends for bunches of birdies, Detroit Golf Club showed a little teeth in the final round, with chilly conditions, stiff winds and some bumpy greens. Davis' final-round 70 was the best in the final two groups by two shots, as Bhatia and fellow 54-hole co-leader both shot 72, and Cameron Young, so frustrated off the tee that he broke his driver on the back nine, shot 1-over 73.

At least a half-dozen players were in contention on the back nine, but the two who had the best shot at tying or beating Davis were Bhatia and Lee, who both bogeyed the 18th hole.

Davis, 29, got up and down for birdie at the par-5 17th, and up and down again from the greenside rough at 18. Still, he wasn't certain he had done enough, especially after all those lip-outs, and the bogey at the par-5 14th.

"Didn't have a lot of pressure on me, because I didn't know I was tied for the lead," he said of his 18th-hole par. "I had a feeling I was up there and I really wanted to get up and down, but it wasn't like my hands were shaking."

...continued

©2024 The Detroit News. Visit detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.