Co-leaders Max Greyserman and Eric Cole shot 7-under-par rounds of 64 to kick off the inaugural Biltmore Championship Asheville on Thursday in Asheville, N.C.
They are one shot ahead of a cluster of six players as the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Fall series began at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove.
Chris Kirk, Ben Kohles, Jackson Suber, Peter Malnati, Neal Shipley and Canadian Mackenzie Hughes are tied at 6-under 65. Another eight players are tied at 5-under 66, including Jacob Bridgeman and Ireland’s Seamus Power.
In Greyserman and Cole, the event has a pair of leaders ranked inside the top 100 in the world who nevertheless have yet to win a PGA Tour event. They’ve come close plenty of times, with Greyserman owning five career second-place finishes and Cole collecting five top-threes. Both have also lost in tournament playoffs.
Greyserman, 31, made eight birdies in his round, including four in a row at Nos. 7-10. His day included birdie putts of 18 and 16 1/2 feet at the par-3 seventh and 14th holes.
Greyserman hasn’t played and has barely practiced since the end of the regular season six weeks ago. He took his wife on vacation, spent time with their infant son and attended a good friend’s wedding.
“Maybe that’s key: Don’t practice and just have a good time and just show up here,” Greyserman quipped.
Cole, 38, carded eight birdies as well but his only bogey came on his finishing hole, No. 9. He made 109 feet of putts, including a 21-footer for birdie at No. 1.
“I worked a lot, really hard and a lot of years to get to the PGA Tour, so any chance I have to play and compete out here is something that means a lot to me, something I don’t take for granted,” he said.
“I’m going to play a decent amount in the fall and just see where my game is at, and hopefully get in contention a little bit and maybe give me something to show me what I need to work on over the offseason.”
Cole finished inside the top 50 of the FedEx Cup points race this season, meaning he is secure for next season and has access to all signature events. But Greyserman entered the week a mere 103rd in points and would rocket to 51st place with a win.
The top 100 players at the end of the FedEx Cup Fall keep their tour cards. Finishing in the 51-to-60 range grants access to the first two signature events of 2027.
Kirk, a six-time PGA Tour winner, is way back at 128th in the standings entering the fall. His exempt status as a past tournament winner expires after 2026. But he is looking at the fall series as a blessing rather than a source of pressure.
“It’s a position I haven’t been in in a little while, but, yeah, I’m excited about it,” Kirk said. “These fall events we go to such cool places. You know, so if I look at my schedule of, obviously, it’s beautiful here in Asheville; St. George, Utah, is one of the prettiest places in the country, and then Bermuda, Mexico, Sea Island (Georgia). It’s just like, yeah, how can you not enjoy it?”
–Field Level Media
