Ben Coley's golf betting tips: Biltmore Championship Asheville preview and best bets

Golf betting tips: Biltmore Championship

1pt e.w. Davis Chatfield at 100/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)

1pt e.w. Ben Martin at 400/1 (bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook | Free bets

Six weeks on from the end of the regular season and a fortnight before the next event on the schedule, the PGA Tour pops its head up for the Biltmore Championship Asheville and I'll be honest, for me the most interesting issue pertaining to this tournament is whether this is the same Asheville that Lee Ranaldo refers to on Be Safe.

That is one of many unanswered questions, others including 'why?', which came up when digging into course reviews, dated Korn Ferry Tour form (so dated that it was the Nationwide Tour), photos, flyovers, and news articles. I thought for a while that this was deemed an essential part of Presidents Cup preparations, but then Justin Thomas withdrew and left only two teammates behind, so it can't be that.

Of course, this tournament will mean a lot to the local area and to players who are battling for precious FedExCup points, and there will be golf fans who feel starved after a couple of weeks without the PGA Tour, even if we've been treated to two fabulous team events in Europe, plus a run of quality tournaments on the DP World Tour which will continue at Wentworth this week.

But for me, this is a tournament that holds very little appeal. We have a new course, we have players coming off lengthy absences, we have altitude, and we have the spectre of the Presidents Cup. It all adds up to thinking little more than Jackson Koivun might just go and win in his home state of North Carolina, justifying his selection in the process, and those seeking a likely contender should consider siding with him.

Likewise, if you're strong on Rory McIlroy, as I am, then there's some temptation to be found in a double which pays upwards of 125/1, but having found three winners all year the idea of finding two in one week seems a little detached from reality. Plus, I really have to stress that the substantive case for Koivun amounts to no more than 'is very good, is from North Carolina'. Is that enough, really?

I thought then about knocking the whole enterprise on the head, but there is a (relatively) local player we can back at 400/1 or so and he also fits the one angle that I did find interesting to think about: while many of these haven't played in a while, there are some from the Korn Ferry Tour who should arrive match sharp.

The player in question is BEN MARTIN, and for good measure he finished sixth on the Korn Ferry Tour just last week, ranking second in strokes-gained tee-to-green. What's more, he'd also ranked sixth on his previous start, so this fairways-and-greens veteran has his long-game in fine shape.

That was also the case when he played a few of the smaller PGA Tour events this summer, the pick of them 21st in the ISCO Championship, and this form gives him a chance of getting involved if he avoids a putting horror show, which is not at all certain. Still, he found improvement in that department at the weekend, ranking slightly better than average, and more of the same could just have us dreaming.

The course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, is hard to weigh up but does look like it could favour accurate players like Martin, who will also benefit from the ball flying further at about 2,200ft above sea level. His altitude form is decent (first Summerlin, third Utah, sixth Boise, seventh Barracuda) and again, he has recent experience in this area having played in Boise on his penultimate start.

Martin also has a flourish of Nicklaus form via fifth place in what's now the Cognizant Classic at PGA National, plus he was once third at Harbour Town which Nicklaus had a hand in, and while none of this will matter if he returns to missing putts from three feet several times per round, it all adds up to a fun bet at a silly price. This is a week for those if ever there was one.

Back up to the land of the more realistic winners, Chris Kirk has some of the best Nicklaus form in the field: first at Annandale, first at PGA National, third at Muirfield Village, ninth at Castle Pines, plus two good efforts in the Barracuda before it was called the Barracuda. He's not been seen since the Wyndham but was eighth before that in Detroit, continues to strike his ball well, and can contend if the putter behaves.

Young stud Blades Brown has two top-10s in Utah, those from limited tries up in the thin air, and is another who has been active on the Korn Ferry Tour, while Billy Horschel has won in Colorado, has winning Nicklaus form at Muirfield Village, and is sacrificing a trip to his beloved Wentworth for this. That ought to ensure focus and he's a class act in a field which features plenty who have much to prove.

Those are some of the options behind Koivun along with Ben Kohles, another North Carolina native. Again, he's been active on the Korn Ferry Tour recently but will need to improve on those performances if he's to finally break his duck, having blown another golden opportunity at the John Deere Classic this summer. The putter has also become a problem again lately.

One who can putt, usually at least, is Andrew Putnam, and he has two things in his favour: Nicklaus form and altitude form. In fact, they cross over via his win at Montreux in the Barracuda and as well as finishing second when defending that title, he's played well at the tournament's new venue since, which is also a Nicklaus design. A top-five at Muirfield Village and 11th at PGA National adds to the case and if he can avoid losing ground off the tee, plausible here, then he could have a say.

And then there's Davis Thompson, who led the field in strokes-gained tee-to-green when selected on these pages for the Wyndham Championship last time but failed to hit the frame owing to a return to his worst putting excesses. That club continues to undermine a potentially top-class career but this is a winning opportunity for Thompson should the time off help. Bentgrass greens might, too.

Among these, Koivun, Kirk, Thompson and Putnam made most appeal but I'd rather speculate or skip and in the hope that this sentiment is nice and clear by now, there are three more players to consider taking a chance on if you can grab a price that could disappear quickly from a weak market. In the end I've settled on just one of them.

Entering the Chat

The player in question, DAVIS CHATFIELD, comes with the most coherent form case; the others have small things in their favour that likely won't be enough and are omitted accordingly.

I selected Chatfield for the Wyndham last time and while he didn't ever look like hitting the frame there, 25th place was a continuation of a good run since the middle of summer. He's made five of six cuts, including a best of fifth, and is averaging almost a stroke gained per round with his approaches during this period – the Tour leader for 2026 is on 0.73.

And 25th at Sedgefield doesn't tell the full story, as he was five-over through 11 holes of round one and 14-under thereafter. For context, 14-under for the tournament was good enough for seventh place and after a maddening first couple of hours he played almost as well as anyone with the exception of the high-class champion, Michael Brennan.

Chatfield then ought to be itching to get back at it and with a couple of top-10s at altitude in South America, another in Boise plus second place the last time he played in North Carolina, he should be comfortable with what's in front of him. That there are five par-threes may be no bad thing, either: he's 13th in par-three scoring this year.

Sky Bet, Paddy Power and Betfair quote 100/1 for 10 places at the time of writing and he's a bet at three-figure prices, which you can get virtually across the board. I wouldn't want to go below 80/1, however.

Tyler Duncan is another short, straight driver who might enjoy this challenge and the altitude adjustment shouldn't be a problem, as he took a family holiday to Switzerland before making a good start to last week's Korn Ferry Tour event.

Duncan faded there but it was the third time in four starts that he was hanging around close to the lead entering the weekend, while if we rewind further it's five starts running now that he's gained strokes with his ball-striking on the PGA Tour, further evidence that his game is sharp bar one troublesome department. Again, how he putts will determine how high he can climb but I highly doubt he's up to winning regardless.

Finally, Jeremy Paul went to college in Colorado, where he's played three Korn Ferry Tour events subsequently and twice finished inside the top five. Yannik's twin brother further highlighted how comfortable he is at altitude when he entered the weekend of the Omega European Masters in second place before predictably fading, that just a couple of weeks ago.

Perhaps that's enough to suggest he's worth the most speculative of bets but for all my apathy, let's not forget that this is a proper PGA Tour event featuring plenty of very good PGA Tour players. Unfortunately, having opened all the boxes, I'm no closer to knowing which of them might be sharp enough and suitable enough to go and win a tournament that could've been given a better slot for its debut. Better be safe than sorry.

Posted at 11:00 BST on 15/09/26

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