DETROIT >> James Piot was already in the parking lot at Fieldstone Golf Club in Auburn Hills for Monday’s PGA Tour qualifier, when he got a phone call from Mark Hollis.

Hollis, part of the leadership team for Rock Ventures and the Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club, was calling to extend Piot, a LIV Golf alum, an exemption into this week’s PGA Tour tournament.

“There was a lot of support, and it was one or the happiest calls I’ve made,” Hollis said Monday morning. “He’s somebody we wanted in from the get-go as we were going through the process.

“It had to play out the way it played out.”

A Detroit Catholic Central grad, Piot, 26, is among the first LIV Golf alums to return to the PGA Tour for a non-major, since LIV Golf, the upstart rival to the PGA Tour, launched in 2022.

Piot played six times on the PGA Tour in 2022, after he won the 2021 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont.

Then, he joined LIV Golf in June 2022, signing a two-year deal that, in the end, paid him at least $6 million, including an upfront guarantee and prize money. After two years of struggles at LIV, where he was teammates with Phil Mickelson, Piot started fresh in 2024, with a goal of one day getting to the PGA Tour.

Players who left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf were suspended from the PGA Tour (only eligible to compete in the majors, which aren’t run by the PGA Tour). But Piot never had status on the PGA Tour. So there was no suspension.

The Rocket’s exemption Monday was cleared by the PGA Tour, Hollis said. The Rocket exhausted the required points list for the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour, before awarding the exemption. Piot’s spot is referred to as an unrestricted sponsor’s exemption, available after multiple players got into the field based on their status number amid withdrawals.

“For it to actually happen is the coolest thing in the world,” Piot said Monday. “It’s awesome. Just the fact I finally get to play in the Rocket Classic, it’s a dream come true.

“Ever since the event was created on the schedule, I wanted to be a part of it.”

Piot’s entry into the field gives the Rocket Classic three Michigan State connections, including alums Piot and Ryan Brehm, as well as current Michigan State player Ashton McCulloch.

Piot, Brehm and McCulloch are planning to play a practice round together at DGC on Tuesday, said Hollis, formerly the athletic director at Michigan State, ahead of the Rocket, which runs Thursday through Sunday.

In 2022, Piot, a Canton native, missed the cut in all six PGA Tour appearances, including the Masters and U.S. Open. He’s played once on the Korn Ferry Tour, earlier this year, and missed that cut.

Piot had shoulder surgery last year, and it’s been a slow recovery, though his schedule and play have ramped up lately, including an Asian Tour appearance in Japan this spring. He missed out on qualifying for the U.S. Open earlier this month, but he did earn conditional status on PGA Tour Americas.

He finished second in a recent mini-tour event in North Carolina, earning a modest $5,900.

“It’s feeling good,” Piot said of his game. “It’s really trending the right way.

“And to be able to play in my home area is even cooler.”

Said Hollis, of the Monday morning phone call: “He was very emotional.”

Laurie Canter, who joined LIV Golf in 2022, has played in five PGA Tour tournaments this year, including three majors.