The second round of the 2026 Biltmore Championship gets underway on Friday at Walnut Cove in Asheville, North Carolina.
Max Greyserman and Eric Cole hold a one-stroke lead over the rest of the field at 7-under par after the opening round. With three days remaining, this tournament remains wide open.
Here are my picks and Biltmore Championship Round 2 best bets.
Biltmore Championship Round 2 Best Bets
Jackson Koivun Top-20 (-122 at DraftKings)
Jackson Koivun rallied after an opening-hole bogey to produce a solid 68 on Thursday to finish T32. At -122, he is worth backing to trend positively for the remainder of the week.
With this being the inaugural edition of a tournament contested on a course that has never hosted a competitive event featuring players of this caliber, there is little course data to work with. That said, there are multiple reasons to believe that the short game will be the differentiator this week.
First, this is mountain golf, which means that players who typically struggle with distance will be able to keep pace with the heavier hitters. Second, The Cliffs at Walnut Cove features five par 3s and generous fairways on the par 4s and 5s.
Subsequently, two big areas to look at this week are strokes gained: approach and strokes gained: putting. This profile benefits Koivun, who made a lot of noise in his debut PGA Tour season.
Koivun finished inside the top 25 in four of his seven events, including his win at the 3M Open. Entering this week, he ranks in the 85th percentile in strokes gained: approach and 81st percentile in strokes gained: putting.
Johnny Keefer Top-20 (+136 at DraftKings)
Another golfer worth targeting in this market is Johnny Keefer. He had a stronger opening round, finishing T17.
At +136, it's worth taking a shot on Keefer to keep things going as the week progresses.
Like Koivun, Keefer fits this course well.
Keefer ranks in the 72nd percentile in strokes gained: approach and has improved his putting. Entering this week, Keefer has gained true strokes putting in four of his past five tournaments, including his T3 finish at the Genesis Scottish Open.
