Michigander Ryan Brehm Makes the Cut for a Second Consecutive year at Rocket Mortgage Classic

Mt. Pleasant native and Traverse City resident Ryan Brehm scored 3-under par on Friday during the second round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic to come in at 5-under par for the tournament – making the cut and earning a weekend performance.

We had a short Q&A time after he signed his scorecard:

Q. Is there a better time to be in the state of Michigan? 

RYAN BREHM: Usually, no. It was pretty warm out there today and yesterday we were battling some smoke, but I'm always comfortable and happy to be home. 

Q. I assume you're happy with your birdies, of course. Are there any holes you parred that you really want back? 

RYAN BREHM: I mean, you can always say that. He I really played nicely today. I think you can talk to every player out here, it's hard to get the ball in the hole. The pin placements are just on ridges where the ball could go either way, it's really tough to know which way they're going. Doesn't mean you hit a bad putt, you just didn't get the right read. 

Q. Were you here on Monday and saw all the storm destruction, and how impressed are you with the cleanup? 

RYAN BREHM: Actually, more so than me, my caddie's been mentioning that every day. I mean, we're walking down the fairways and he's saying, my gosh, these guys did a great job with the storm cleanup compared to what it was on Sunday when the storms came through. I tip my cap to them. We needed the sun to come out and dry it out a little bit. On the back nine the ball started jumping a little bit when it landed on the greens, so that tells me it's drying out OK. 

Q. Must feel good to have another day, making the cut. 

RYAN BREHM: It does. You know, I was a little nervous out there. It's a lot of fun to play in front of friends and family, but it can kind of elevate the heart rate a little bit. You have to really zone in and focus and execute. 

Q. Sounds like a good kind of nervous, you mean? 

RYAN BREHM: I don't know, man. The older I get, the more I'm like, gosh, I don't know if I can handle the nerves, but I did a pretty good job these last couple days. So I'm happy with the way I'm hitting the ball, it's just a dramatic improvement from the previous couple weeks and I just need to get a couple more putts to drop and I'll be all right. 

“Just keep going, know that you're striking it pretty well. When we got through -- when we were going through 14, 15, 16, it started getting a little gusty, and those pins are tucked. I hit some really nice shots just to even have birdie looks there. Yeah, I don't know, I look forward to the weekend. 

Q. To what extent are you able to appreciate the fact that it is your home state? I saw you exchanging with the fans, someone said "Go Green," you said, "Go White" back. To what extent are you kind of able to appreciate playing here versus like locking in focusing on the task at hand? 

RYAN BREHM: I think the younger version of myself probably would have been more kind of "grrr," let's go and put my head down, but the older version of myself really does appreciate all the support. I know it's genuine, and it's genuine for me too when I say "Go White" back. And not just that, there's people from all over the state there rooting me on and I've kind of learned to accept that and embrace that because there's something about it. I don't know, I came in here this week in a funk and we made a cut and I'm hitting it much better. And same thing happened last year, so I don't know, there's something about being back home.”