Bubba Watson and friends opened the Rocket Mortgage Classic with a charity challenge.
They've helped the tournament exceed over $1 million in donations, before the first round even started.
Watson, Harold Varner III, Jason Day, and Wesley Bryan played in a nine-hole match to help raise awareness and funds for 'Changing the Course,' the tournament's initiative to help close Detroit's digital divide and add technology to lives of more Detroiters.
"When you can get Bubba Watson, Jason Day, Harold Varner III, and Wesley Bryan to raise money on a day when they typically don't do something, it's phenomenal," Quicken Loans vice chairman Bill Emerson said.
In 2019, the Rocket Mortage Classic raised $1.2 million for charity.
"The more I study what Rocket Mortgage, Quicken Loans, and what Dan Gilbert's done for this community alone, it makes me want to do more on my own to my own community," Watson said on Wednesday.
"That's the reason why I wanted to partner up, try to figure out a way (PGA Tour commissioner) Jay Monahan and the Tour would let us do this."
Watson and Varner beat Day and Bryan in the nine-hole match, kicking off the week of competition in the city.
