This week, the Rocket Classic is notable, at least above it’s relatively un-notable norm, for several reasons. One, it’s the tournament’s final installment after an eight-year run at Detroit Golf Club. Two, 21-year-old phenom Jackson Koivun will be looking to go back-to-back after last week’s remarkable win at the 3M Open. Three, and perhaps most importantly for casual viewers, two of YouTube’s biggest and best stars, Brad Dalke and Ryan Ruffels, will be both be in the field, crossing over from the influencer-verse into the highest echelon of professional golf.
Over the past year, there has been growing interest amongst YouTube golf fans in how the platform’s best sticks stack up to the greatest players on the PGA Tour. In 2025, Good Good Golf launched Good Good Pros with Dalke as its figurehead, and the former national champ recently tee’d it up at the DP World Tour’s BMW International Open, finishing T-30.
Ruffels meanwhile, recently qualified for The Myrtle Beach Classic after winning The Q, a competition hosted by notable influencers Grant Horvat and the Bryan Bros with a spot in the tournament as its grand prize. The former high-ranked amateur, who stars alongside Jason Day on YouTube as part of The Lads, finished T-45 in the opposite-field event.
Now in Detroit, we get to watch both players face off not only against each other, but against the best players in world. Both stand to advance their own careers and credentials, as well as those of the entire golf influencer community. Or the opposite. That’s high pressure and fans should temper their expectations (the field in Detroit this week features four of the top 10 players in the world), but as long as the moment doesn’t overwhelm them, both Dalke and Ruffels have game enough to make the weekend.
