Brad Dalke, Ryan Ruffels Tee Times at the Rocket Classic
Two big names in the world of YouTube golf will be teeing it up alongside the PGA Tour's best this week, with Brad Dalke and Ryan Ruffels both in the field for the Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club. The event kicks off on Thursday 30 July and concludes on Sunday 2 August, and alongside our two YouTubers features the strongest field in the tournament’s history.
Ryan Ruffels and Brad Dalke Tee Times
Tee times have just been released for the event, which will be running for the eighth time this year. Ruffels kicks off his tournament off on the 10th hole in the final group of the morning session of Round 1, hitting his first ball at 9.01am local time alongside Americans Johnny Keefer and Ben James. That trio will then be the last group to tee off on the first in Round 2 at 2.11pm.
As for Dalke, he’ll be doing the reverse. His group, consisting of fellow American Luke Clanton and Englishman Marco Penge, will hit off the 10th at 1.49pm local time in Round 1, before beginning off the first at 8.39am in Round 2.
For those who will be keeping tabs around the world, a quick time conversion for you. 9am in Detroit is 2pm in the United Kingdom and 11pm on the east coast of Australia, while those 2pm tee times will be 7pm in the UK and 4am in Melbourne and Sydney.
Rocket Classic Event Forecast
Conditions for the first couple of days of the Rocket Classic could hardly look better, with temperatures set to reach just over 80°F or around 28°C both days, and only light winds forecast. On Thursday the wind is expected to be be relatively consistent, only maxing out at around 5mph or 8kph throughout the day, so neither the morning nor the afternoon group is likely to be favoured. Friday’s winds are set to be almost non-existent in the morning before reaching similar speeds to Thursday, so Dalke’s early morning tee time may be beneficial, though again it doesn’t appear likely to have a major impact.
If either of them manage to make it through to the weekend, however, they’ll want to bring their wet weather gear, because things take a bit of a turn on Saturday. Thundery showers are forecast from the morning, while Sunday may also bring some light rain throughout the course of the day.
How to Watch
Golf Channel carries coverage on all four days, airing from 3-6pm ET Thursday and Friday before shifting to an earlier 1-3pm ET window on the weekend. CBS then takes over for the closing stretch of coverage on both Saturday and Sunday, airing from 3-6pm ET. You’ve also got the option to stream the PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ throughout each day – from 7am to 6pm ET Thursday and Friday, and 7.30am to 6pm ET on Saturday and Sunday – with featured group and featured hole coverage included. SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio also carries live audio coverage each day.
International viewers will have different arrangements depending on their location. UK and Ireland fans can catch the tournament on Sky Sports Golf, airing daily from 7pm local time. In Australia, PGA Tour coverage is a standing part of the Kayo Sports package, though as with any US tour stop, expect the broadcast to fall overnight or in the early hours AEST given the time difference to Detroit – it’s worth checking the schedule closer to the day for exact windows.
As for how much coverage Ruffels and Dalke and get – well that remains to be seen. The field this year is among the strongest in the tournament's history, with world number 3 Cameron Young, world number 5 Russell Henley and two-time major champion Xander Schauffele all committed, alongside past champions Rickie Fowler and Tony Finau and 2025 Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley.
Dalke and Ruffels won’t exactly be getting shot-by-shot coverage from the outset competing against those kinds of names, so we’ll need to hope they find their way towards the top end of the leaderboard at some stage if we’re to get significant coverage of their tournaments.
What are Ruffels and Dalke Doing in Detroit?
Dalke's start comes on a sponsor's exemption and will be his first official PGA Tour appearance outside of the Masters and US Open, both of which he competed in back in 2017. He has, however, whet his professional appetite in recent times when he teed it up at the BMW Championship in Germany earlier this month, finishing in a tie for 30th.
Ruffels, meanwhile, is making his second PGA Tour start of 2026. He booked his way into May's Myrtle Beach Classic by winning The Q, a qualifying event open only to content creators, beating out a field that included fellow creators Grant Horvat and George Bryan. He backed that up with a tie for 45th at Myrtle Beach — a solid result given it was his first tour start in close to four years — and arrives in Detroit having also gone first overall in the inaugural Your Golf Tour draft earlier this year.
With both creators in the field alongside a strong professional lineup, the Rocket Classic looks set to draw extra attention from the YouTube golf audience this week. Though neither will be expected to be competing at the pointy end of the event, Ruffels showed at the Myrtle Classic that he’s more than capable of competing at this level, while Dalke also enters the tournament with some really good golf behind him - after all, who else in the field got five votes at the inaugural Your Golf Tour stop!?
