The 2026 Biltmore Championship Asheville begins Thursday at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, with the opening round featuring a strong field led by Presidents Cup selection Jacob Bridgeman. Bridgeman, a 26-year-old who earned his first PGA Tour victory at the Genesis Invitational in February, has added four top-five finishes and six top-10s this season. He will tee off at 12:43 p.m. ET alongside fellow rookie Jackson Koivun and Webb Simpson, seeking a second victory that would further strengthen his growing reputation before his Presidents Cup debut later this month.
Other notable first-round groups include Tony Finau, J.T. Poston and Ben James at 12:54 p.m., while Cameron Champ, Lanto Griffin and Doug Ghim follow at 1:27 p.m. The morning wave includes Corey Conners, Ryan Hisatsune and Nico Echavarria at 7:53 a.m., and Billy Horschel, Nick Taylor and Blades Brown at 8:04 a.m. Coverage is scheduled on PGA Tour Live from 7 a.m. ET, with Golf Channel television coverage from 3 to 6 p.m.
The DP World Tour has also announced significant changes to its 2027 schedule. The Singapore Open and Hong Kong Open will be co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour, while the Open de Portugal returns for the first time since 2020. The Irish Open will move from September to the first week of July, creating a three-week run with the Scottish Open and The Open Championship. The revised calendar also leaves several tournament slots listed as “TBC,” including positions previously occupied by the Danish Golf Championship, Genesis Championship in South Korea, Austrian Alpine Open and Nexo Championship.
A separate disciplinary ruling has brought renewed attention to competitive integrity in amateur golf. The Lothians Golf Association suspended Scottish amateur Craig Surgeon from entering its events for five years, with the final three years suspended, after an investigation into an incident during qualifying for the Lothians Amateur Championship in July. Surgeon acknowledged that he played a wrong ball, later found his original ball and placed another provisional before disqualifying himself. He said he had panicked after finding the first ball and feared his playing partners would not believe him. Kingsknowe Golf Club said it would replicate the county suspension and bar him from representing the club during the ban, while also beginning its own disciplinary process.