Biltmore Championship Asheville Round 1: Max Greyserman and Eric Cole Share the Lead

Five weeks with no competitive golf, two of them spent in Italy, and Max Greyserman walked into a brand-new PGA TOUR stop and shot the low round of the day. Sometimes the best swing thought is no swing thought at all.

Greyserman posted a 7-under 64 on Thursday at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove to share the first-round lead at the inaugural Biltmore Championship Asheville with Eric Cole. Six players sit one back at 6-under 65: Chris Kirk, Ben Kohles, Jackson Suber, Mackenzie Hughes, Peter Malnati and Neal Shipley. Another cluster at 5 under includes Presidents Cup pick Jacob Bridgeman, Séamus Power, Pierceson Coody and Cam Davis.

Soft Mountain, Loose Rules

The TOUR has not played in the Blue Ridge Mountains since Ben Hogan won in the area in 1942, so this week came with no scouting reports and no course history. It also came with a soggy golf course. Heavy rain and high temperatures in Western North Carolina caused agronomy problems on the new layout, and officials ruled that lift, clean and place will be in effect for all four rounds. Thursday started with a fog delay of about 40 minutes, and once play got going, the rain-softened par 71 was there for the taking.

Greyserman liked the blank slate. On a course this new, he said, there are simply no memories, which keeps everything fresh. That matters for a player whose year has gone sideways.

Greyserman's Reset Button

The numbers on Greyserman's 2026 are not pretty. He arrived at No. 103 in the FedExCup standings, just outside the top 100 who keep full cards for 2027. He has slid from No. 32 in the world to No. 90. His only top 10 of the season was a tie for ninth at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson, and he finished 11 shots back that week. He has five career runner-up finishes and still no trophy.

So after the Wyndham Championship, he stepped away. He took two weeks to spend time with his 8-month-old son, practiced at home in New Jersey for a week, then went to Italy for two weeks. Thursday was his first round since.

"Don't practice and just have a good time and just show up here," Greyserman said, per the AP, wondering aloud if that might be the key.

The round itself turned on a par save. At the sixth hole of his day, he stuffed a wedge to 2 feet to keep his card clean, then ran off four straight birdies. He added a 17-foot birdie putt at the 14th and finished with eight birdies. According to Field Level Media, a win this week would vault him to No. 51 in the standings, which would mean far more than just keeping his card.

Cole Keeps Grinding

Cole is the opposite of a player who takes time off. The 38-year-old was making his 131st career PGA TOUR start, and he has averaged 34 events a season over the last three years. He told reporters he simply likes to play a lot of golf and enjoys competing.

He has also played plenty of good golf without a win. Cole has five career top-three finishes and has lost in a playoff, and Thursday was his third opening-round lead or co-lead of the season, per The First Call. He grabbed the solo lead with a 5-foot birdie at the par-5 eighth, late in his round, then gave a shot back at his final hole. A tee ball found trouble, he had to punch out, and his 20-foot par putt slid by. That bogey is the only reason he is sharing the top spot.

Unlike Greyserman, Cole has no card pressure at all. He finished No. 49 in the FedExCup, which locks him into every signature event next year.

The 65 Crowd

The group one back is deep and varied. Kohles, raised in Cary, North Carolina, is a few hours from home. Hughes was the top Canadian on the board, and Malnati and Suber both kept pace with the leaders. Shipley, a TOUR rookie who came in at No. 183 in the standings, posted a bogey-free 65 and badly needed a week like this.

Further back, Ben James opened with 67 and Ricky Castillo with 69. Jonathan Byrd made his 500th career PGA TOUR start and signed for a 70.

Presidents Cup Tune-Up

Seven players in this field head to Medinah next week for the Presidents Cup, five of them on the International side. Bridgeman, the Genesis Invitational champion (we covered that win at Riviera back in February), was the best of the U.S. contingent with a 66 in what is effectively his final tune-up before his team debut. Nick Taylor led the Internationals. Rookie Jackson Koivun, another U.S. pick, opened with a 68, and Webb Simpson shot 71.

What Thursday Means

This is the first of eight FedExCup Fall events, and the stakes stack up quickly. The top 100 at the end of the fall keep full status for 2027, while finishing 51st to 60th earns spots in the first two signature events of next season. Because of the 2027 transition season, each FedExCup Fall winner is also assured a place in the Championship Series when the new schedule starts in 2028.

After one round, the leaders are a player who just rediscovered his joy for the game and one who never lost it. With preferred lies all week and more than a dozen players within two shots, Friday afternoon should be a sprint. Round 2 will start to sort out who is chasing a trophy and who is just chasing the cut.

Full scoring is on the PGA TOUR's Round 1 recap (opens in a new tab).

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 1 recap, AP), Golf Channel, Field Level Media, GOLF.com, The First Call. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.