ASHEVILLE, N.C. – With the Blue Ridge Mountains framing the PGA Tour’s Biltmore Championship Asheville, an occasion now in full swing at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove in Arden, many spectators had been seeing a PGA Tour occasion dwell for the primary time.
Off the inexperienced, the viewers politely applauded the gamers within the match that started with almost 130 opponents.
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Griffin Collins, an Atlanta resident, mentioned he had attended PGA Tour occasions earlier than that and mentioned the Biltmore Championship Asheville stands as much as the most effective of them.
Griffin Collins speaks with the Asheville Citizen Instances throughout the Biltmore Championship Asheville at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove on Sept. 18, 2026.
“It is tremendous cool. The course is gorgeous,” he mentioned.
Collins attended the Biltmore Championship Asheville with buddies the day earlier than his wedding ceremony within the metropolis. It was a bonus for the golf fan, as the marriage was deliberate earlier than the PGA Tour was introduced.
It is the primary PGA Tour occasion in Asheville in 84 years, hosted on the Jack Nicklaus-designed course at a venue greater than 23,000 sq. toes, which opened in 2005.
“It’s a lovely day to showcase Asheville and Western North Carolina to the whole {golfing} world,” Governor Josh Stein mentioned on the second morning of the match. “It will present these attractive mountains to viewers all around the world, and persons are going to say to themselves, ‘I wish to go there,’ and that is what we wish to do ― let the world know Western North Carolina is open for enterprise.”
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Western North Carolina shines for Biltmore Championship Asheville
With no fog delay, as on the primary day of the celebrated match, the skilled males’s golfers started the second day of the inaugural match below clear skies and sunshine, enjoying their manner across the course and transferring nearer to claiming the victory, the custom-made gold-and-silver trophy and a minimize of the $5 million purse.
The championship trophy for the inaugural Biltmore Championship Asheville is displayed throughout Media Day on Aug. 19, 2026. The trophy options greater than 5 kilos of silver and sits on a black walnut base crafted from a tree felled at Biltmore Property throughout Hurricane Helene.
The Biltmore Championship Asheville is the primary of eight within the FedEx Fall Sequence, performed after the Tour Championship, which finalizes eligibility for the 2027 PGA Tour Season.
Collins was rooting for the Vanderbilt College alum Gordon Sargent.
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“Hopefully he can get again within the league and get again up there,” he mentioned.
Earlier than Stein made his rounds of the holes, he paused to touch upon the gamers with native ties.
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein smiles whereas attending the second spherical of the Biltmore Championship Asheville at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove on Sept. 18, 2026.
“It is nice that among the most gifted golfers on this planet are North Carolinians. We have now J.T. Polston and Webb Simpson competing right here, and we’re cheering arduous for them,” he mentioned.
Publish-Helene financial system, restoration enhance in WNC
The Biltmore Championship Asheville was secured by a $2.4 million four-year settlement between the PGA Tour and co-sponsors Biltmore, of the famed Biltmore Property and Biltmore Home, and Discover Asheville.
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Greater than 10,000 friends had been anticipated to attend the sold-out four-day occasion, with greater than 2,000 out-of-state guests, in accordance with Discover Asheville. Greater than 1,100 volunteers registered to assist earlier than and throughout the match.
Anna Catherine, a Hickory resident and workers member on the College of North Carolina Asheville, signed as much as volunteer three days over the weekend.
Anna Catherine speaks with the Asheville Citizen Instances throughout the Biltmore Championship Asheville at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove on Sept. 18, 2026.
“It is an effective way to get out and meet folks and provides again, which is without doubt one of the core pillars of what we do for the group, and I needed to do my half,” she mentioned. “I needed to be a part of what makes it particular and bringing folks again to Asheville.”
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The way forward for Biltmore Championship Asheville, WNC
Stein mentioned the PGA Tour is anticipated to considerably enhance the area’s financial system, producing tens of millions of {dollars} over the four-day weekend, accelerating WNC’s restoration progress since Hurricane Helene, which arrived as a tropical storm within the fall of 2024.
Collins mentioned he and his fiancée had visited Asheville many instances earlier than and after Helene, in the end selecting an undisclosed venue within the metropolis to alternate vows and have a good time.
“Our venue was below 5 toes of water however they rebuilt the whole lot, so we felt good with going there since they had been again up and operating,” he mentioned.
In the course of the four-day go to, he, his wedding ceremony celebration, and friends deliberate to enterprise exterior The Cliffs at Walnut Cove to native companies, together with a welcome celebration at Hello-Wire Brewing, with meals catered by Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ, additionally a PGA Tour meals vendor.
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Collins mentioned he deliberate to return for the subsequent years of the Biltmore Championship Asheville.
Stein mentioned the Biltmore Championship Asheville goals to speed up the area’s restoration, including that there have been “encouraging indicators” of taxable gross sales in 2026, in comparison with earlier than the historic storm.
“We see progress being made, however we all know there’s much more work to do,” Stein mentioned.
He mentioned employment in Buncombe County hadn’t totally rebounded, however that the best way to spice up employment is to extend native cash circulation.
Asheville’s unemployment price was 3.3% in July 2026, in accordance with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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“We wish the world to know what we learn about Western North Carolina. It is so lovely; the persons are good, they’re pleasant, they’re form. The meals is nice, the beer is sweet, the crafts are lovely. There’s simply a lot to take pleasure in in Western North Carolina; we wish extra folks to come back right here and spend their cash.”
Tiana Kennell is the meals and eating reporter for the Asheville Citizen Instances, a part of USA TODAY Co., overlaying the meals and beverage business and PGA Tour’s Biltmore Championship Asheville. Suggestions, feedback, questions? Electronic mail tkennell@citizentimes.com or comply with @PrincessOfPage on Instagram. Join AVL Bites and Brews, our weekly foods and drinks e-newsletter right here.
This text initially appeared on Asheville Citizen Instances: What is the future seem like for the PGA Tour’s new occasion in North Carolina?
