The inside story of how Detroit Golf Club landed the city’s first-ever PGA Tour event - Golf.com

No less than 15 months ago, the scene existed only in the recesses of Andy Glassberg’s mind. That’s when Glassberg, the president of Detroit Golf Club, got a phone call that turned a fantasy into the nascent stages of a thrilling reality.

“We have an interesting proposition for you,” said the voice on the other end of the line. It was Jason Langwell, now the director of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. “Would you be interested in potentially being a venue for a tournament that we would like to create in Detroit?”

Glasswell didn’t need to think on it. As far as he was concerned, the question was rhetorical.

Ten years earlier, amid the heart of Detroit’s devastating economic downturn, Glassberg — then a lower-ranking DGC board member — set a goal. He began corresponding with the PGA Tour, trying to better understand how his club could become “tournament-worthy.”

Given the timing, the idea alone was audacious. The club was bleeding members, it had lowered its initiation fees and, with that, came an inevitable loss of revenue. Also, the closest the Tour had ever come to Detroit was Grand Blanc, a quaint suburb an hour north, for the Buick Open.

DGC’s stewards played the long game. They hired Tom Doak, a course architect (and Michigan native) who specializes in Donald Ross restorations. They revamped both the North and South courses. They invested in the clubhouse and other member-centric components. The club’s intent was two-fold: redouble its efforts to maximize the membership experience, and, yes, hold out hope for a big-time tournament down the road.

On Langwell’s end, the phone call to Glassberg was several years in the making. In his role with Intersport, he handled all of Quicken Loans’ sports marketing consulting. When Quicken Loans — a Detroit-based company owned by Dan Gilbert — took over the title sponsorship of The National in Washington, D.C., its decision-makers did so with one aim in mind. In 2017, they made that endgame known to the PGA Tour in no uncertain terms.

“Look, we have interest in continuing,” Langwell recalls telling Tour representatives. “Our client is interested in continuing this. But if they do so, there’s gotta be a pathway to Detroit.”

And so it came to fruition. Quicken Loans signed a five-year deal in 2017, keeping the tournament in D.C. for one more year to give DGC time to prepare. The stage was set.

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