AUBURN HILLS >> Otto Black and Brett White have spent a whole lot of time on the golf course together, crossing paths on the junior circuit, in high school, in college and, even these days, as professionals.

So it was extra special that they got to share the coolest of moments Monday, both surviving a playoff at a qualifier at Fieldstone Golf Club to earn their spots into this week’s PGA Tour tournament, the Rocket Classic, at Detroit Golf Club.

It’ll be the second PGA Tour event for Black, 31, and the fourth for White, 32.

“We played against other, we were in the same high-school class, college class,” said White, a Grand Rapids native who played at Eastern Michigan. “I’m very happy for Otto and his family. It’s cool to represent Michigan, to get a couple guys representing Michigan this week.

“It feels good. I’m excited. I’ve wanted to play in the Rocket for a long time.”

The same is true for Black, who is from Brighton and played collegiately at the University of Toledo.

Black and White both made two-putt pars on the short, risk-reward par-4 18th hole to advance out of a three-for-two playoff, when the third golfer in the playoff, Texas’ Christian Jalomo, found the penalty area and made double-bogey.

“This is exciting, especially to get through with Brett,” Black said.

The good-golf train rolls on for Black, who, earlier this month, won the Michigan Open at Shanty Creek. He made nine birdies in windy conditions Monday, making up for an early double-bogey.

“I’ve just been trying,” said Black, “to live off those positive vibes, for sure.”

Black and White advancing in the Monday playoff gives the Rocket Classic seven players with local ties, including Ryan Brehm, Benny Cook, Joe Hooks, Ashton McCulloch and James Piot, the former U.S. Amateur winner and ex-LIV Golf players who was set to tee it up Monday before he got a call that he had been given an exemption into the Rocket.

Black and White, who is sponsored by EMU boosters at GameAbove, both shot 5-under 67 to get into the playoff. Also advancing Monday, after shooting 6-under 66, were Pennsylvania native Evan Brown and California’s Andi Xu. It’s the first PGA Tour tournament for both Brown and Xu.

“There’s a lot of don’t-get-throughs, so the very few get-throughs, it makes that experience … that much more enjoyable,” said Brown, 26, a Loyola-Maryland alum who used an eagle on the short par-4 third (he drove the green, and made the 6-footer) to springboard his round, after he opened with bogeys on the first two holes. “Just because you have finally paid off all the hard work you’ve been putting in. It’s not often you’re going to get through these.”

Xu, 22, is the youngest of Monday’s qualifiers, having recently graduated from the University of San Diego. He’s played two Korn Ferry Tour tournaments this year, and made the quarterfinals at the 2023 U.S. Amateur.

But hearing his name called on the first tee Thursday will be extra special for Xu, who also made an eagle, at the par-5 sixth, then made an up-and-down from 55 yards for par on the 18th after his tee shot found the hazard.

“Not really,” Xu, who killed time waiting for the rest of the field to finish by playing chess on his phone, said when asked if he can comprehend he’s about to make his PGA Tour debut. “Not until I get there.”

Monday-qualifying into a PGA Tour tournament has the potential to be career-altering, as Doc Redman learned in 2019, when he finished second at the Rocket, and Peter Kuest learned in 2023, when he tied for fourth in Detroit.

White learned that in 2023, when he Monday’d into the Sanderson Farms Championship and tied for 13th, earning a payday of more than $160,000. It’s the one cut he’s made on the PGA Tour, in three previous tries, including in the Puerto Rico Open earlier this year.

The odds are long —White estimates that over the years he’s played in dozens of PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour qualifiers, where there’s a lot more trunk-slamming than fist-pumping — but, even at the track, the long shots occasionally come in.

“It’s just like a crap shoot,” said White, a lefty whose sister, Sarah, plays on the Epson Tour, the LPGA’s developmental circuit, and just finished tied for sixth at the Island Resort Championship in the Upper Peninsula on Sunday.

Added Black, whose one appearance on the PGA Tour was the 2024 U.S. Open: “It’s gonna be cool.”

The 156-player field now is finalized for the Rocket, which runs from Thursday through Sunday.