The FedEx Cup Fall Series begins on Thursday with the first staging of the Biltmore Championship Asheville, which takes place at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove in North Carolina.
Jackson Koivun, one of seven players who will be competing at next week's Presidents Cup, has been installed as the 11/1 favourite to claim the spoils, ahead of 16/1 chances Davis Thompson and Jacob Bridgeman.
With a $5m purse and 500 FedEx Cup Fall points on the line, every member of this field will hope to get off to a fast start and secure a strong foothold.
Biltmore Championship Asheville First-Round Leader Tips Summary
Best Bet - Patrick Fishburn each-way @ 75/1
Alternative Bet - Benjamin James each-way @ 35/1
Alternative Bet - Hayden Springer each-way @ 75/1
Biltmore Championship Asheville First-Round Leader Prediction
Best Bet: Patrick Fishburn each-way @ 75/1
This course should reward solid approach play and one player who has looked razor-sharp with the irons this season is Patrick Fishburn, who ranks second in greens in regulation on the PGA Tour and is fourth in round-one scoring average.
Results have been hard to come by for the American, whose best finish this year is a tie for 16th at the 3M Open three starts ago, but he has a habit of making fast starts before fading away.
Fishburn has been in the top 10 after the opening 18 holes in four of his last seven events, with the best effort coming at the Rocket Classic when he sat tied fourth after day one.
The 34-year-old may ultimately fall short again in his bid for a maiden title on the US circuit, but that does not mean he cannot put in a strong showing on Thursday and get to the summit early on.
Alternative Bet: Benjamin James each-way @ 35/1
Another player chasing his first PGA Tour title is Benjamin James, who was third on his last appearance at the Wyndham Championship and will be eager to add some valuable FedEx Cup Fall points this week.
The 23-year-old American was sitting tied second after the first round of the Wyndham, just one shot off the pace, while he was in the top 10 after day one at both the ISCO Championship and Corales Puntacana Championship.
Those three strong starts have come in his last five events and James has the ability to make some early gains to give himself a strong platform to build on.
Alternative Bet: Hayden Springer each-way @ 75/1
The final selection in the first-round leader market is Hayden Springer, who arrives in solid form following a tied-third finish at the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Springer started that event off strongly, sitting in a share of seventh after day one, while he was tied fifth after the opening 18 holes of the Wyndham Championship before that.
Add in that he shared sixth place at the Rocket Classic before missing the cut, and Springer looks like a solid each-way shout to start quickly on Thursday.
Key Tournament Stats
This will be the inaugural Biltmore Championship Asheville and the opening tournament of the FedEx Cup Fall Series
The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, designed by Jack Nicklaus, hosts a PGA Tour event for the first time
A par 71 measuring 7,249 yards, this course boasts 10 par-fours, five par-threes and four par-fives
Sitting roughly 2,200 feet above sea level, the elevation changes around this course make distance control key
Jacob Bridgeman arrives in good form with a top 10 and a top five in his last two starts
Patrick Fishburn has been in the top 10 after round one in four of his last seven tournaments
Read more golf betting tips and predictions on site.
This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
