No sleep, no problem: Doc Redman's 62 earns him a spot in Rocket Mortgage Classic

Washington Twp. — By late afternoon on Monday, Doc Redman was thinking it might be best to take it easy the rest of the day and get some shut-eye.

And why not?

The Raleigh, N.C., native and regular on the Mackenzie Tour — the PGA’s tour in Canada — had just shot a 10-under 62 at The Orchards to win the Rocket Mortgage Classic open qualifier and earn a spot in the field for the inaugural event that starts Thursday at Detroit Golf Club.

It was the lowest score ever shot during a tournament at the venue about 30 miles north of DGC, and Redman happened to do it after taking a red-eye flight from Seattle.

“I’ll go check in and see what’s going on,” Redman said before quickly rethinking things. “Nah, I think I need to go lay down. I’m going on three, four hours sleep.”

But as Redman quickly pointed out, it was well worth it.

The fatigue he might have been feeling hardly showed as he finished with seven birdies and two eagles with a three-putt bogey thrown in for good measure.

“I just started hitting it close toward the end of the back,” Redman said. “I was hitting really good shots, and I got some putts to drop, and then I was in a better rhythm and was feeling more confident.”

Starting on the back nine, Redman birdied five of the last six holes before making the turn. He then holed out from the fairway for eagle on the par-4 fourth and chipped in for eagle on the par-5 sixth. The hiccup came with the three-put at No. 7 before birdies on 8 and 9 to close out the round of 31-31-62.

It was the best round Redman has had in competition, but it didn’t come out of nowhere. He’s sixth on the Mackenzie Tour order of merit and has two runner-up finishes this year. He’s also played in two Web.com Tour events and finished tied for 18th at the Wells Fargo Championship in May, his only PGA Tour event this season.

“I’ve just been playing well, but haven’t really been making a lot of putts,” Redman said. “(Today) I was hitting good shots and feeling good. I had a lot of wedges and 9-irons which I think I’m good at and hit some close and got some confidence and had a few breaks go my way. I holed out from the fairway on the front on 4 and then chipped in for eagle on 6. So they were good shots, but things got to go your way for that to happen and it did, so it’s awesome.”

Redman knows well the story of Corey Conners, who this year won the Valero Texas Open after getting on the field through the Monday qualifier. He became just the fifth player to do so and the first since 2010.

However, Redman isn’t exactly putting that sort of pressure on himself this week, instead looking forward to playing Detroit Golf Club.

“I’ve heard it’s awesome, so I’m just gonna go out and try and enjoy it,” Redman said. “It’s always fun playing on Tour. Hopefully I can play well and try to do my best and add it up at the end.”

Four spots were up for grabs on Monday.

Austen Truslow, who has played in two Tour events this season, shot an 8-under 64 to earn a spot in the Rocket Mortgage Classic. The other two spots were decided in a five-man playoff.

Tour veteran Martin Piller and Wes Homan, who’s played on various tours throughout his career, both birdied the first playoff to take the final two spots. They both fired 6-under 66 along with Armando Favela, Alex Kang and Charlie Danielson.

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @mattcharboneau