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The 2026 Biltmore Championship Asheville has reached the halfway point, with The Cliffs at Walnut Cove producing the birdie fest we anticipated we might see on a sub-7,300-yard par-71 with four very scoreable par-5s. Five players are on pace to surpass 20-under-par, and we should expect to see even more birdies on moving day tomorrow.
Neal Shipley has been the surprise of the week thus far. After going an entire PGA Tour season without posting a finish better than T38, he stands alone atop the leaderboard at 15-under-par after a stellar 62 on Friday. There are plenty of chasers still in the mix, with Ben Kohles, Max Greyserman, Ricky Castillo, and Eric Cole not far behind.
Looking ahead, we have new data at our disposal to adjust our approach in DFS formats before Round 3 gets underway on Saturday. Conditions have been calm with intermittent gusts thus far, and the course will continue to play soft throughout the week, with preferred lies already in effect for the duration of the tournament. Ahead, we’ll look to identify the players who have shown they are most due for a Round 3 breakout.
Take a look at some of the best pillar players for the 2026 Biltmore Championship Asheville DFS contests and live betting opportunities.
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DraftKings Showdown Golf Strategy
DraftKings Golf Showdown is a one-round Daily Fantasy format in which players aim to construct the best-scoring one-round lineup while staying within the allotted salary cap. To identify value in Golf Showdown, it’s typically best to focus on buy-low opportunities on players who’ve shown uncharacteristically poor putting in the prior round. There is also an opportunity to find leverage by identifying favorable weather splits and players who are more likely to card birdies or better.
Round 3 Biltmore Championship Asheville Showdown Pillar Plays
As expected, ball-striking form and Bentgrass putting skill have prevailed through the opening rounds at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove. In true positional course fashion, this is a venue that can be attacked from the fairway by trending wedge players. Furthermore, the presence of five long par-3s and four reachable par-5s has laid out a path for the best long-iron players to separate here. That places a heightened importance on driving accuracy and Proximity: 200+, as the leaders have displayed in the opening round. Looking ahead, it is going to take a combination of driving accuracy, elite long-iron play, and a streaky putter to go low at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove.
Identifying value players who check each of these boxes can provide valuable bonus points in the DraftKings Showdown format. The three players below will be foundational plays in my Round 3 Showdown lineups for these reasons.
Jackson Koivun ($10,900)
Koivun was the No. 1 player in my model and the pre-tournament favorite to win the Biltmore Championship Asheville. While those live odds have inflated since, and he now finds himself eight strokes off the lead, it’s no fault of the way Koivun has played. He finds himself T20 at the halfway point and ranks top-15 in terms of SG: T2G, SG: Ball Striking, and SG: OTT.
Normally the strength of his game, it’s actually been the putter that’s held him back from going lower to this point, ranking 75th in the category. Moving day has proven to be a launching pad for big comebacks recently, and Koivun will benefit from slightly calmer conditions before the leaders tee off later in the afternoon. There’s no doubting his skill, and if the putts begin to drop, he’s in a great position to charge inside the top-10 on Saturday.
Jackson Suber ($9,100)
Speaking of Jacksons who rated highly in my model, Suber ranked No. 2 overall behind Koivun, and has fully proven that course fit thus far, currently T6 at 9-under-par. Similar to Koivun, tee-to-green has not been the issue for Suber; he ranks 4th in SG: T2G, 5th in SG: Ball Striking, and top-15 in terms of both SG: OTT and SG: APP.
Suber has been hit or miss all season, with as many top-6 finishes (3) as missed cuts over his last 12 starts. It seems we’re getting the good version of Suber in Asheville this week, as he’s leaned on his Total Driving strengths to set up ample birdie opportunities thus far. Ranking just 63rd in SG: Putting, he has room to improve on the greens going forward, assuming his tee-to-green game remains this sharp.
Webb Simpson ($6,700)
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a vintage Webb Simpson performance from the former U.S. Open and PLAYERS Champion. But at the age of 41, Simpson is still younger than other proven commodities like Justin Rose, Gary Woodland, and Adam Scott. While his hopes to contend for majors may now be behind him, he’s proving this week that he can still show up opportunistically on short courses that reward his greatest skill sets of accuracy, wedge play, and putting.
Reunited this week with his old caddie, Paul Tesori, Simpson looks like he is fully turning back the clock in Asheville. He ranked 3rd in SG: APP and 18th in SG: Putting in round 2, a truly vintage Simpson display. The Cliffs at Walnut Cove is a picture-perfect venue for Simpson’s game, rewarding accuracy and offering very little reward for sheer distance. If he can maintain his approach form into the weekend, he represents an appealing low-risk, high-reward option at this price in DraftKings Showdown.
Live Bets To Consider Entering Round 2
Tournament Matchup: Michael Kim over Johnny Keefer
Best Available odds: -120
It’s still very early to judge Johnny Keefer towards the end of his rookie PGA Tour season, but this year has drawn a very linear correlation of his best results coming on open, forgiving courses that allow players to play aggressively with driver. That is not what we have this week in Asheville, as The Cliffs at Walnut Cove has proven to be a positional test that penalizes missed fairways and instead rewards accuracy. Keefer has kept pace with Kim in this matchup thus far, but he’s been carried predominantly by his putter, ranking outside the top-70 in SG: OTT, Driving Accuracy, and SG: T2G.
I still believe TPC Deere Run is the top overall comp course for what The Cliffs at Walnut Cove demands, and that happens to be the site of Michael Kim’s lone career PGA Tour victory. Given his solid preceding form and strong course fit, I’m more optimistic about Kim’s prospects over these next two rounds.
Top 20 Finisher: Chris Kirk
Best Available odds: -128
I took a leap of faith on Kirk leading into this week, assuming he’d used the extended off time to work on his putting, which held him back so severely in the regular season. That assumption appears to be true, at least through the first two rounds, as Kirk is on pace to gain strokes on the greens for the first time since The AmEx over eight months ago.
There’s no question his tee-to-green game is sharp enough to maintain his current position of T10 for the tournament, as he ranks 11th in SG: T2G and 1st in SG: ARG. If he can simply remain field-average with the putter over the next two days, he’s in a great position to cash in on this prop at near-even odds.
Best of luck with your Biltmore Championship Asheville DFS lineups and bets!
Photo Credit: REUTERS
