7 players to watch during PGA TOUR's quiet 2-week stretch

Three majors and all of the signature events have come and gone, and we've entered what can be dubbed the PGA TOUR's "sleepy season."

While only two weeks long, this week's Rocket Mortgage Classic and next week's John Deere Classic will not have the strongest fields. Many top players on TOUR are taking two weeks off to rest in preparation for the Scottish Open and the Open Championship.

But for the diehards - and even those who consider themselves casual golf fans - there are still plenty of names on which to keep tabs during these quieter weeks.

Cam Young

Cam Young is struggling to find consistent results this season and enters the Rocket Mortage Classic as the tournament's second favorite after a 59 at the Travelers last week helped him finish T9.

Young is expected to contend in Detroit - he's +200 to finish inside the top 10. Perhaps last week's hot round was the kickstart his season needed, or maybe it was an anomaly and he'll slip back into his inconsistent ways.

Will Zalatoris

In his return from injury this season, Will Zalatoris got off to a nice start. He was a runner-up at the Genesis Invitational and came T4 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. It looked as though Zalatoris was back.

But after his T9 at the Masters, he failed to crack the top 40 in six straight events, including a missed cut at the U.S. Open. Inconsistent iron play and below-average chipping and putting have derailed his early-season success. He's one of the most talented players in the Rocket Mortgage Classic fields, so his finish this week will be indicative of where the remainder of his season is headed.

Daniel Berger

Like Zalatoris, Daniel Berger is also back from injury after missing a year. His putter has been holding him back from high-end finishes this season, but he's starting to hit the ball with confidence. He had 10.7 strokes gained: tee-to-green at the U.S. Open, arguably the toughest tee-to-green test these players face all season.

Berger will likely also play next week at the John Deere Classic, where he's had plenty of success during his career. It would be a surprise if he doesn't record at least one top-10 finish over these next two weeks.

Jordan Spieth

While not playing this week in Detroit, Jordan Spieth will be at the John Deere Classic for the first time since 2015. He's a two-time winner of the event, and it's where he enjoyed his first career PGA TOUR victory way back in 2013.

Perhaps returning to his early-career happy place is exactly what Spieth needs to break out of another mini-slump. He has three top-10 finishes on the season but none since the first week of April. Spieth's iron game is in shambles. However, he's quietly becoming one of the best drivers of the ball on TOUR and may have a shot at contending if he can tighten things up in the approach game.

Miles Russell

Teenage phenom Miles Russell is making his PGA TOUR debut this week at the age of 15.

You read that correctly. Russell, a high school sophomore, will tee it up in Detroit this week after he turned heads by finishing T20 during his first start against pros on the Korn Ferry Tour in April.

Russell has a junior golf pedigree that rivals few. He won both the Junior PGA Championship and Junior Players at 14, then won the AJGA’s Player of the Year Award shortly after turning 15, passing Tiger Woods as the youngest to win the AJGA's top accolade.

Neal Shipley

Neal Shipley earned low-amateur honors at this year's Masters and U.S. Open. He turned pro ahead of last week's PGA TOUR Americas and finished T9 in his pro debut.

Now he gets his first PGA TOUR start in a field far weaker than what he's used to seeing in major championships. Shipley is clearly ready to compete with the pros, and a high finish this week in Detroit could accelerate his journey to becoming a full-time PGA TOUR member.

Michael Thorbjornsen

The former Stanford Cardinal earned full-time membership by finishing first in the PGA TOUR U standings, much like Ludvig Aberg did last year.

Michael Thorbjornsen finished T39 in his pro debut at the Travelers last week. His career-best finish on the PGA TOUR was a T4 as an amateur at the 2022 Travelers.

Thorbjornsen, Shipley, and Russell aren't the only fresh faces in the Rocket Mortgage Classic field. Three more future stars worth monitoring, who all sit inside the five in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, include Ben James, Jackson Koivun, and Luke Clanton.