The PGA Tour returns to Asheville for the first time since 1942 this week with the inaugural Biltmore Championship Asheville. The event begins the FedExCup Fall and is the first of a four year agreement that will keep the tournament in the area through 2029.
The tournament will be played at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, a Jack Nicklaus Signature design that opened in 2005. The par 71 course will play 7,249 yards and sits in a valley at roughly 2,200 feet in elevation, bordered by the Blue Ridge Parkway and Pisgah National Forest.
The routing follows the contours of the property rather than fighting them, producing rolling fairways, elevation changes and long views of the Southern Appalachians from throughout the course. Nicklaus summed up the setting himself: “Walnut Cove provides an extraordinary natural setting for golf. Areas on this course make you feel as if you are playing through a natural forest.”
The inaugural field features 24 players ranked inside the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking, led by Jacob Bridgeman at No. 28 and J.T. Poston at No. 38. Seven Presidents Cup players will also tee it up at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, including Bridgeman and Jackson Koivun for the U.S. Team, along with Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Corey Conners, Nico Echavarria, Ryo Hisatsune and Nick Taylor for the International Team. Marco Penge, Michael Kim, Rasmus Hojgaard, Andrew Novak, Denny McCarthy, Tony Finau, Max Greyserman, and Eric Cole add further depth to a field that includes 59 PGA Tour winners with 134 career victories.
Here are my favorite plays and fades in each price range for DraftKings contests for the 2026 Biltmore Championship Asheville.
$9,000+ range
Play: Davis Thompson, $9,700
When combining recent form, historical performance in the fall swing, and comp course history, Thompson ranks first overall in my early Rabbit Hole model. He’s finished inside the top 15 in each of his last three tournaments and has gained an amazing 1.51 strokes on approach in his last 18 rounds.
Fade: Rasmus Hojgaard, $9,800
For some reason, Hojgaard simply has not adjusted well to PGA Tour events. His last three starts have come on the DP World Tour, including a T-2 at the Danish Championship and a T-11 at the Omega European Masters. In his previous 14 PGA Tour starts, he has just one top 20 finish. He has lost strokes on approach in eight of his last 11 events, while this week’s course also takes away one of his biggest advantages in length off the tee.
$8,000+ range
Play: J.T. Poston, $8,900
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Poston is the second-highest ranked player in this field, yet is only the 12th-most expensive player on the board. Over the last three months, the North Carolina native won the Memorial at another Nicklaus-designed course, finished T-4 at the U.S. Open, and finished inside the top 25 in his two most recent events in the FedExCup Playoffs. The four-time PGA Tour winner has made 15 of 21 cuts this year and plays above his baseline on shorter scoreable courses similar to Walnut Cove this week.
Fade: Johnny Keefer, $8,700
Keefer has been extremely boom or bust in his rookie year on tour. Along with his three top 10s, he’s finished 50th or worse 15 times. His last four tournaments have not been pretty with a T-59 as his best finish while losing on approach in his last three starts. Similar to Hojgaard, his length of the tee will be mitigated on this shorter, positional course.
$7,000+ range
Play: Mackenzie Hughes, $7,600
Hughes is one of those golfers whose splits show that he tends to play above his baseline during certain parts of the season, and the Fall Swing is one of those stretches. Over the last four years, he has six top-eight finishes in the fall, including a win at the 2022 Sanderson Farms Championship. He also ranks inside the top 15 in this field in both comp course performance over the last three years and recent form, which includes two top 10 finishes over the last three months.
$6,000+ range
Play: Davis Chatfield, $6,800
Over the last three months, Davis Chatfield has been one of the strongest players in this field, ranking 10th overall while gaining 1.14 strokes per round. His recent form has been driven by elite ball-striking, as he ranks second in approach, gaining 1.03 per round and is second in driving accuracy at 81 percent. Chatfield has missed just one cut in his last six starts, with all five made cuts resulting in finishes of T-35 or better. That stretch includes a career-best T-5 at the ISCO Championship, a T-16 at the 3M Open, and a T-25 at the Wyndham Championship in his most recent start.
Ron Klos (@PGASplits101 on X) is a PGA Tour data analyst for Betsperts Golf.