Rolling on from where he left off, Akshay Bhatia continued his form from the Travelers Championship and blitzed home late in the opening round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic to take control.

Bhatia finished birdie-eagle-birdie to shoot an impressive 8-under 64, good enough for a one-shot lead over Taylor Montgomery and Michael Kim.

A winner at the Valero Texas Open earlier this season where he was in control for most of the tournament, Bhatia’s odds have been slashed from +2000 pre-tournament to +333. He was T5 last week at TPC River Highlands.

Like Bhatia, Montgomery and Kim went bogey-free on Thursday, but Montgomery’s recent form did little to predict his showing. Since a T11 at THE PLAYERS, he hasn’t made a cut.

Kim’s last four outings have shown two top 20s and two missed cuts.

A group of five players, including defending champion Rickie Fowler, England’s Aaron Rai, Germany’s Matti Schmid and Americans Will Zalatoris and Eric Cole sit two back at 6-under.

Cameron Young, second favorite coming into the week, is part of an eight-way tie for ninth at 5-under.

Here are the latest outright odds from BetMGM Sportsbook:

• +333: Akshay Bhatia (8-under, first)
• +1000: Cameron Young (5-under, T9)
• +1100: Aaron Rai (6-under, T4)
• +1200: Will Zalatoris (6-under, T4)
• +1800: Rickie Fowler (6-under, T4)
• +1800: Michael Kim (7-under, T2)
• +2000: Min Woo Lee (4-under, T18)
• +2200: Eric Cole (6-under, T4)
• +2200: Taylor Montgomery (7-under, T2)

Draws

Rickie Fowler +1800

A year ago Rickie Fowler snapped a winless drought at Detroit Golf Club against a stronger field, which is enough for me to entertain the +1800 on offer here. Four birdies in his last five holes lifted his confidence, and with an early return on the same side of the golf course, I have high hopes he can maintain some rage, making these odds value. Seventh in Strokes Gained: Putting and inside the top 30 in SG: Tee-to-Green, Approach and Off-the-Tee give me some hope.

Will Zalatoris +1200

This is a reputation draw. It is unfathomable to think before his back injuries of the past year or so that you would get +1200 on Zalatoris sitting just two shots off the lead of a tournament without the majority of stars on the PGA TOUR. He comes into Friday with the momentum of five birdies in his last six holes and gets to start his round on that side of the golf course. He will need to continue his above-and-beyond putting — he ranks second in the field — and that is possibly a red flag. But hey, this is the guy who threatened in multiple majors just a few years ago. I’ll give him a roll of the dice.

Cameron Young +1000*

As my pre-tournament selection to win, I cannot abandon Young now after a reasonable first round. Bogey-free, he’ll be looking to get after the par 5s even more on Friday despite playing them in 3-under via an eagle and birdie. The asterisk above* is a warning for you to wait before investing, as Young is due out in the afternoon wave. If the morning crew go low, Young’s number will undoubtedly grow and present more value. The red flag will be if the likes of Bhatia go super low, adding pressure to Young’s second-round score.

Fade

Akshay Bhatia +333

This is definitely not a fade of the player, but rather the odds. As awesome as Bhatia has been the last five rounds of golf, I can’t advocate jumping on at +333 with 54 holes to go given the lineup of players behind him. Hopefully you got on at the +2000 pre-tournament price and can ride that number for a few more rounds. I’ll say this though, coming out in the morning on Friday gives Bhatia a chance to eliminate contenders if he can get close to matching his Thursday heroics. Another low round will set the pace and apply severe pressure to the afternoon wave. He has the talent to do so, but the price just isn’t right given this is his eighth straight week on TOUR and fatigue could factor in at some point.