The PGA TOUR starts the FedExCup Fall with a brand new event. The Biltmore Championship Asheville tees off for the first time this week as the PGA TOUR makes its first-ever stop at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove. The course is just south of Asheville in Arden, North Carolina. The tournament begins on Thursday, September 17, and will conclude on Sunday, September 20, weather permitting.
Let’s start the week with a look at the format, history, and course for the Biltmore Championship Asheville.
Biltmore Championship Asheville Format
This week’s format follows the standard for a PGA TOUR full-field event. The cut after Round 2 will reduce the field of 132 players to the top 65, with ties advancing into the final two rounds.
All four rounds will be played at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove.
Tournament History
The tournament has no history yet, since this will be its PGA TOUR debut, but it fits in a very important spot on the schedule for the players in the field.
After taking a few weeks off after the TOUR Championship, the PGA TOUR begins the FedExCup Fall. The FedExCup Fall is critical for players who finished outside the top 70 in the FedExCup standings and want to secure full-time membership and exempt status for next year. The top 100 players at the end of the FedExCup Fall secure full-time membership, so the standings will be critical to watch throughout the eight-event schedule.
The event is also important for players looking to tune up for the Presidents Cup next week. Seven players in the field this week will also play in that team event at Medinah Country Club next week, led by Jackson Koivun, who is also the betting favorite this week. Jacob Bridgeman is the only other Team USA player in the field, with Canadians Corey Conners and Nick Taylor, Colombian Nico Echavarria, Japanese star Ryo Hisatsune and South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout representing the Internationals team.
While the Presidents Cup is its own unique event and not part of the FedExCup Fall, the series will resume with four events in October and three more in November.
Last year in this spot in the schedule, the PGA TOUR played the Procore Championship at Silverado Resort in Napa, but Procore Technologies declined to renew its title sponsorship. The future of the event in Napa and the event in Asheville is uncertain as the PGA TOUR moves to its new format in 2028. This is the first of a four-year agreement that will keep the tournament in the area through 2029, but its place on the schedule remains to be determined.
Be sure to check out this week’s full field and opening odds on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Closer Look at the Course
The Cliffs at Walnut Cove is a premier course designed by Jack Nicklaus, which will be making its first appearance on the PGA TOUR or any professional competition. The course opened in 2005 and is part of a luxury gated community near Asheville, North Carolina, bordered by the Pisgah National Forest and the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The course opens with nine holes across open, rolling former farmland, with strategic bunkering that creates risk/reward decisions that can lead to birdies or bogeys if players get too aggressive. The scenery shifts dramatically on the back nine as it turns into the woods and winds through trees, with mountain streams adding character and forcing carries on several holes. The par-71 layout measures 7,240 yards, and the elevation of over 2,000 feet above sea level could make it play a little shorter overall.
The fairways and tees for this tournament are bentgrass, while the greens are a bentgrass/poa annua blend. The rough is Kentucky bluegrass and has been permitted to grow thicker and longer for the PGA TOUR event. If players end up in the bunkers or the rough, they could find scrambling difficult.
The course’s overall difficulty is unknown statistically since it’s making its debut. But with five par 3s, nine par 4s and four par 5s, there should be par-breakers available all around the course. The whole setup is designed to fit naturally into the mountain landscape, and it should be a beautiful and serene setting for an important tournament.
Based on the routing, Strokes Gained: Approach looks like the primary metric to lean into this week, as is normally the case. It is likely a less-than-driver course, where finding the fairway with accuracy and Good Drive% also play a big role. Par 5 and par 3 scoring will also be big factors since there are fewer par 4 holes than in many setups.
As you get ready for this week’s tournament, be sure to get your DFS fantasy golf lineups and betting cards filled out with help from DK Network! We’ll have ongoing coverage throughout the week to help you enjoy this weekend’s tournament.
