The leaves are just starting to change colors in Western Carolina in time for the kickoff of the first FedEx Cup Fall event.
Set against the Blue Ridge Mountains and bordering Pisgah National Forest, The Cliffs at Walnut Cove provides a dramatic stage for the inaugural Biltmore Championship Asheville, the PGA Tour’s first tournament in Asheville, North Carolina, in more than 80 years.
Those roots date back to the Asheville Land of the Sky Open, where Hall of Famer Ben Hogan won three consecutive titles from 1940-42. Explore Asheville signed a four-year, $2.4 million agreement to host the event through 2029. The championship reconnects the region with its Tour history while introducing a new era of professional golf in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
“It's been one that's been circled on the calendar, I would say, since they announced the tournament,” said J.T. Poston, who grew up an hour away and went to school at Western Carolina University. “Certainly biased, but I think the North Carolina mountains are some of the greatest places in the world.”
This week's field includes 24 players ranked in the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking, and two of those are in the top 50. The highest-ranked player in the field is Jacob Bridgeman, a South Carolina native and Clemson alum, at No. 29, followed by Poston at No. 38.
After the Biltmore Championship Asheville, the FedEx Cup Fall takes a one-week break for the Presidents Cup to be contested at Medinah Country Club in Chicago. Two U.S. team members – Bridgeman and Jackson Koivun – are in the 132-man field, as are five International team members – Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Corey Conners, Nico Echavarria, Ryo Hisatsune and Nick Taylor.
Walnut Cove opened in 2005 and is one of seven courses in The Cliffs portfolio spread across western North and South Carolina. The Jack Nicklaus design features five par 3s and plays to a par of 71 and is situated about 15 miles from downtown Asheville. Poston, who won this year’s Memorial Tournament at Jack’s Place, called himself a fan of Nicklaus courses now.
“I think it's a great track. I think it'll be pretty gettable I think this week if it I were to guess,” he said. “But you still have to hit really good golf shots and make some putts. I think it's still a great test.”
Routed through ridges and down valleys, the elevation climbs from approximately 2,200 to 3,200 feet. Poston said it calls for some shots that he doesn’t hit very often on Tour.
“The 11th hole out here,” he said, “plays 23 yards downhill. We don't see that hardly at all on Tour.”
The Biltmore Championship is part of a group of eight tournaments played after the Tour Championship that finalizes eligibility for the 2027 PGA Tour Season. Players look to secure their position inside the top 100 in the standings and become exempt on Tour for the 2027 season. [Nos. 101-110 and Nos. 111-125 earn conditional status too.] The top 50 in the FedEx Cup points are already locked in for next year’s signature events but are still eligible to play in the fall. Nos. 51-70 have secured full status in the top 100, but they still have the carrot of the Aon Next 10, which determines eligibility for early-season signature events at the 2027 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and 2027 Genesis Invitational.
In addition to earning $900,000 from the $5 million event purse, the champion this week receives 500 FedEx Cup points and Official World Golf Ranking points as well as a two-year Tour exemption, which will earn them their card for the PGA Tour Championship Series in 2028 and invitations to the Players Championship and PGA Championship next year.
It wasn’t lost on Poston that nearly two years after Hurricane Helene hit the area hard, the Biltmore Championship Asheville offers an opportunity to highlight the strength, resilience and continued recovery of Western North Carolina, with much of the championship's charitable and community impact being directed toward ongoing revitalization efforts throughout the region.
“That was some pretty devastating stuff,” Poston said. “The mountain community kind of showed a little bit, everybody coming together to help the people that needed it. You know, I think the timing of this event is — I don't think that's a coincidence. I think the Tour probably saw that. I love that they are stepping in and bringing an event to Asheville. It's only going to do good things for this area and the efforts to help recover from that devastation.”
Adam Schupak is a Golfweek senior writer, covering the PGA Tour.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: As FedEx Cup Fall begins, Asheville hosts first PGA Tour event in 80 years
