After two weeks of operating on Euro-time, we are back to regularly scheduled programming this week with the first-ever Biltmore Championship.

The tournament is being held in Asheville, North Carolina, at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, which plays a little over 7200 yds – not long by PGA Tour standards.

In addition to that, The Cliffs at Walnut Cove sits right at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, so altitude will be a factor this week, and it looks beautiful.

As always with the Fedex Fall, the fields are not very top-heavy – so a winner can come from anywhere.

Justin Thomas was supposed to be competing, but dropped out this week, and he was the only major-winner in the field, so that leaves just two guys who finished the year inside the Top 50: Jacob Bridgeman and JT Poston.

Since this is the first tournament being held at The Cliffs, there is no historical or shotlink data to rely on for picking a winner this week, but of course we will try anyway.

If you’ve been following along, it should be noted that Keith Stewart is on a bit of a heater right now:

• BMW: Wyndham
• FM Champ: Ruoning
• Solheim: Europe
• Irish Open: Shane Lowry

So, in addition to his normal weekly picks, he’s throwing out a free one.

 

Keith’s Free BMW PGA Pick:

The DP World Tour is hosting its flagship event this weekend, with a much more talented field than the PGA Tour.

Winner: Patrick Reed +2500

 

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The Details

 

How To Watch

 

Featured Groups:

ESPN+ has featured group coverage for the Biltmore Championship.

You Can Watch It Here

 

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Weekly Bets: BMW Championship

 

Between Caddyshanks and Keith, it’s been a pretty fun season of golf betting. If you enjoy that side of golf: Join Keith’s private golf community here.

Use code CADDYSHANKS2026 for 20% OFF.

Keith Stewart’s Picks

 

Outright pick: Rasmus Højgaard (+3300 Draft Kings)

Fourth at the Rocket Classic, and runner-up at the Danish Golf Championship, Rasmus Højgaard has three top 11 finishes in his last five starts. Højgaard’s combined play across two tours has kept him sharp. Worried about all of the travel distractions, Højgaard finished third last year at the Sanderson Farms Fall Series event one week after the Ryder Cup at Bethpage.

Longshot pick: Blades Brown (+4100 DraftKings)

Blades Brown has three top 9 results in his last five starts. I realize he is playing the Korn Ferry Tour, but that’s the point: Brown is playing! A majority of this field has not competed in five weeks. The Biltmore winner will need subpar scores. Blades is ranked second in the field for BoB% and even more importantly, he has been making plenty of birdies recently.

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Caddyshanks Picks

 

JT Poston (+3100 Draftkings)

There’s a lot of question marks surrounding this field and course, so I am going with proven winner this week. JT Poston has won once this year, at The Memorial, and he’s had a very solid season overall.

Emiliano Grillo (+6200 Draftkings)

After a bumpy start to his season, Grillo has had a much stronger finish, but only one Top 10 all year. I know that doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, but rumors are that the rough will be 6+ inches and he is a very accurate driver of the golf ball, plus it’s a wide open field so you’ve gotta have at least one longshot on the card.

Golf without a little money on the line is still golf. But golf with something on the line is a different sport entirely. Suddenly every putt matters. Suddenly the par-5 on 14 is a real decision. Suddenly you find out a lot about the people you play with.

Here are 10 betting games worth knowing – from the ones every golfer should have in rotation to the ones that will ruin a Saturday in the best possible way.

1. Nassau

The most common golf bet in the world, and for good reason. A Nassau is three bets in one: front nine, back nine, and overall 18. Each is typically worth the same amount. Simple to track, hard to blow completely – even if you lose the front badly, you can still win the back and the overall. Every golfer should know this one. If you don’t, you probably haven’t played with anyone who cares about golf.

2. Skins

Each hole has a set value. Win the hole outright, you win the skin. Tie the hole and the skin carries over to the next one. By the 17th, a carried-over skin can be worth an uncomfortable amount of money. Skins rewards the hot hand and creates genuine drama on every hole, even when you’re already out of the round.

3. Wolf

One player per hole is designated the Wolf. The Wolf watches each player tee off in order and decides after each shot whether to take that person as a partner. If the Wolf doesn’t pick anyone, they go Lone Wolf against the field – double or nothing. Rotates every hole. High strategy, high variance, endlessly entertaining once everyone understands the rules.

4. Bingo Bango Bongo

Three points available per hole: first ball on the green (Bingo), closest to the pin once everyone’s on (Bango), first ball in the hole (Bongo). Points are worth whatever you agree on upfront. Works especially well in groups with mixed handicaps because it rewards different skills – long hitters, short game specialists, and good putters all have a path to points.

5. Match Play

Head to head, hole by hole. Win a hole, you go one up. Lose a hole, you go one down. Win by more holes than remain and the match is over — a 4&3 win means you won by four holes with three remaining. No scorecards, no math, no cumulative disaster. Just hole-by-hole competition. The format every major uses for a reason.

6. Vegas (a.k.a. Monte Carlo)

A team game. Each side combines their two scores into a two-digit number, lowest score first. If your team shoots a 4 and a 6, your score is 46. If the other team shoots a 5 and a 7, their score is 57. Difference is 11 points. Get assigned an unlucky 9 on a hole and watch your partner turn white as they realize the other team just scored 49 against your 99. Vegas lives up to its name.

7. Hammer

Start with a base bet on the hole. At any point before someone holes out, either player (or team) can throw the Hammer – doubling the bet. The other side must accept or concede the hole. You can Hammer back. It adds a poker element to every shot and creates genuinely awful decisions with the ball in the air. Not recommended for new friendships.

8. Greenies, Sandies, and Birdies

Side bets that run alongside whatever else you’re playing. A Greenie pays out to whoever hits the green first on a par 3, but only if they make par or better. A Sandie pays for making par out of a bunker. A Birdie is self-explanatory. Stack these on top of a Nassau and suddenly every shot has something attached to it.

9. Stableford

Points-based format instead of stroke play. Double bogey or worse: 0 points. Bogey: 1. Par: 2. Birdie: 3. Eagle: 4. The math is simple. The effect is significant – a blow-up hole costs you two points instead of torpedoing your entire scorecard. Great format for groups where skill levels vary and stroke play turns into a slog by the back nine.

10. Snake

Also called Putting Snake or just Snake. Whoever three-putts first is holding the Snake. They hold it until someone else three-putts, at which point the Snake passes. Whoever is holding the Snake at the end of the round pays the table. No one talks about their putting more carefully than a group playing Snake. The psychological weight of that Snake by the 16th hole is something you have to experience.

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A few ground rules: agree on stakes before the first tee, not after. Keep it at a level where everyone’s comfortable. And know that the best golf bet is one where everyone’s trying on every hole — even the ones who are already losing.

Want more golf content that doesn’t take itself too seriously?

Yesterday, Jackson Koivun won the 3M Open in dominant fashion at the ripe old age of 21.

In the process, he held off a Sunday charge from Scottie Scheffler, set the tournament scoring record at 25-under, and joined a very short list of the youngest winners in PGA TOUR history.

It was an incredible performance, and golf social media has been on fire talking about him.

A reminder that @DataGolf had Koivun ranked as their best amateur golfer since 2010 ahead of some massive, massive names.

Now a win by 3 shots in his 3rd pro start as a 21 year old.

And by 5 shots over everyone that isn’t the number one player in the world.

SHEESH. pic.twitter.com/f9rXI3fto1

— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) July 26, 2026

If you’re a casual golf fan, you’d be forgiven for thinking he’s already been anointed as the next “chosen one.”

The truth is, nobody knows.

Sports fans love fortune telling. We love believing we can spot greatness before everyone else. Sometimes we can.

If you watched Derrick Henry run over high school defenders, you knew he was going pro one day. LeBron James was on national television before he could legally buy a lottery ticket. Bryce Harper landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated at 16.

But there are plenty of times when fans and prognosticators get it wrong.

For every LeBron, there’s a Greg Oden. For every Bryce Harper, there’s a Todd Marinovich. For every can’t-miss prospect who becomes exactly what everyone expected, there are dozens who looked every bit as inevitable… until they weren’t.

Golf is no different.

Peter Uihlein was the No. 1 amateur in the world for longer than several eventual PGA TOUR winners. After winning the U.S. Amateur in 2010, many people thought he was the next great American star.

He’s never won on the PGA TOUR.

Matthew Wolff looked destined to become one of the game’s biggest names after winning on TOUR at 20 and finishing runner-up in both the U.S. Open and PGA Championship before turning 22.

Today, he’s trying to rebuild his career.

Even Jordan Spieth reminds us how dangerous expectations can be, to a certain degree.

Spieth won on the PGA TOUR at 19. By 23, he had already won three majors.

At the time, it felt almost impossible that he’d go through the next decade without adding another one.

Yet here we are.

Today is Spieth’s 33rd birthday, and those three majors are still the only ones on his résumé.

Golf has a funny way of humbling predictions. So, we won’t make any about Jackson Koivun.

Jackson Koivun might become the next Tiger Woods.

He might become the next Jordan Spieth.

He might become the next Peter Uihlein.

Or he might carve out an entirely different career that none of us could possibly predict today.

The only thing we know for sure is this:

Winning a PGA TOUR event at 21 while staring down Scottie Scheffler is ridiculously impressive.

What’s Next?

The Rocket Mortgage Classic, which has a loaded field this year.

Rocket Mortgage Classic Odds

• Cameron Young (+1000)
• Xander Schauffele (+1650)
• Chris Gotterup (+1800)
• Si Woo Kim (+1850)
• Wyndham Clark (+1850)
• Patrick Cantlay (+2150)
• Jackson Koivun (+2300)
• Russell Henley (+2400)
• Ben Griffin (+2800)
• J.J. Spaun (+3400)

Golf fans are starting to get a little too comfortable.

That’s the nicest way to put it.

The R&A is rolling out a new fan code of conduct at Royal Birkdale called The Open Commitment, and the message is pretty simple: act like an idiot, and you might get thrown out. Serious or repeated breaches can lead to removal from the grounds without a refund.

Good.

This probably should not need to be a news story. Golf fans should not need a formal reminder to avoid yelling at players, acting like their $12 three-leg parlay makes them part of the broadcast, or trying to turn every tee shot into their personal TikTok audition.

But here we are.

The R&A says fans should remain quiet during shots, avoid inappropriate comments, celebrate in a fair way, keep phones silent, avoid video recording during play, and enjoy alcohol responsibly. Alcohol is also not allowed in grandstands.

Again, none of this is exactly revolutionary.

This is basically: watch golf like a normal person.

But the fact that The Open feels the need to make this formal says a lot about where golf crowds are headed. The sport has spent the last few years trying to get younger, louder, more social, more viral, and more accessible. A lot of that is good. Golf needed some life.

The problem is that “more energy” and “more idiots” often arrive in the same Uber.

The Guardian reported that R&A staff, marshals, and officials will be monitoring the expected 300,000 fans at Royal Birkdale, and Mark Darbon said the R&A will ask people to leave rather than adopt Nick Faldo’s idea of massive fines for abusive spectators.

That feels like the right line.

You don’t need to turn The Open into a courtroom. You just need to make it clear that buying a ticket does not give you the right to be a clown six beers deep because someone missed a putt that ruined your bet.

And that’s really the bigger issue here.

Golf is now fully tied to gambling, social media, and main-character fan behavior. That combination is not going away. If anything, it’s going to get worse unless tournaments are willing to enforce standards.

The Open is doing that.

It does not mean fans can’t have fun. It does not mean everyone needs to sit there in total silence like they’re watching a piano recital. It just means there’s a difference between energy and abuse.

Golf should be loud in the right moments. It should be fun. It should have personality.

But if the choice is between protecting the atmosphere of one of the best championships in sports or letting some guy named Kyle scream at Tommy Fleetwood because his top-20 bet is dying, I think we can all live without Kyle.

The final men’s major of the year starts this week.

It is July.

That feels insane, because it is insane.

Rory McIlroy said this week that he’d like to see golf’s major championship season stretched out beyond its current four-month sprint. The calendar got squeezed when the PGA Championship moved from August to May, and now the sport basically crams its four biggest events into one giant blur from April through July.

From a player perspective, you can see the benefit. If you find something, you can ride it. Get hot at the Masters, carry it into the PGA, survive the U.S. Open, and show up at The Open still feeling like you’re in rhythm.

For the rest of us, it’s a little different.

Golf spends all winter trying to convince casual fans that the season has started. Then the Masters shows up, everyone remembers golf exists, and we get the best stretch of the entire year. Augusta. PGA. U.S. Open. The Open.

Four months of actual juice.

And then the Claret Jug gets handed out before August, and the sport basically asks everyone to stay emotionally invested through FedExCup math, Ryder Cup speculation, and whatever LIV headline is making everyone tired that week.

This is where Rory is right.

Golf’s biggest problem is not that it lacks good events. It’s that the events people care about most are packed too tightly together. The majors should feel like tentpoles. Right now, they feel like a bender.

The Guardian reported that Rory is not alone here, either. Scottie Scheffler has also acknowledged the season feels condensed, and Jon Rahm has pushed the idea even further, suggesting golf should think bigger globally with a major in places like Australia, Asia, or another part of Europe.

That is probably a much harder conversation, because the majors are run by different organizations, with different histories, different priorities, and different television deals. Nobody is just moving the Masters because we all think September needs a little more golf.

But the broader point is still obvious.

The current setup does not serve the fan as well as it could.

Give us the Masters in April. Give us the U.S. Open in June. Give us The Open later in July, and move the PGA back to August. Let the season breathe a little bit. Let every major have its own runway.

Because right now, the best part of the golf calendar is over before most of America has even gone on summer vacation.

That’s bad business. It’s bad momentum. And most importantly, it gives all of us way too much time to start pretending we understand the FedExCup standings or even care about them.

Major season continues.

There are a ton of major championships on the professional golf calendar. Nine in the last 13 weeks, if you include the PGA TOUR Champions, PGA TOUR, and the LPGA.

So naturally, why not two more in the next two weeks?

The LPGA heads to beautiful Evian-les-Bains, France, for the Amundi Evian Championship. Golf purists will argue about whether the Evian should be considered a major. This is the 32nd year of the event and the 13th year with major championship status.

From a betting perspective, we don’t really care what you call it. A +5000 winner pays 50-1 whether it happens at the Evian, the ISCO, or the U.S. Open.

This week, 132 players will compete for $9.1 million and a major title. The top 65 and ties will play the weekend, with $1.365 million going to the winner.

Twenty-three of the top 25 players in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings are in the field, ready to take on the Champions Course at Evian Resort alongside Lake Léman.

Last Year At Evian

RTL readers will remember this one.

Grace Kim played her final six holes in seven under par, then beat Jeeno Thitikul in a playoff. Thitikul was our outright pick last year, and her number is basically the same this time around.

One of the worst beats of 2025 came when Kim chipped in on the first playoff hole after hitting her second shot into the water.

Kim won. We lost. And the LPGA is back for another year in the Alps.

The Course: Mountain Golf

For the second week in a row, we have a par-71 scorecard.

The Champions Course has four par 5s, nine par 4s, and five par 3s. The official tournament card reads 6,479 yards for the 2026 edition, which is about 48 yards shorter than the 2025 setup.

Calling all approach artists.

With five par 3s, 28% of iron shots will come from the tee box. Recent top-10 leaderboards show that scoring on the par 3s is a serious edge at Evian.

Over the past decade, the average winning score is 15 under par. Since the event became the LPGA’s fifth major in 2013, there has not been a repeat winner.

Sorry, Grace Kim.

The Champions Course sits on a hillside at about 1,575 feet above sea level, which means the course plays roughly 3% shorter than the scorecard yardage. The longer holes tend to play downhill, like the 205-yard par-3 14th, while the short 331-yard 17th plays uphill.

Course Conditions, Weather, And Wind

The forecast looks warm in the Alps region of eastern France.

Daily highs are expected to reach the low 90s for each round, with very little breeze blowing between 6 and 10 mph. The players will be looking for relief while walking at altitude in that kind of heat.

The weekend could bring a little precipitation, but unfortunately, the rain is not expected to do much to lower the temperature.

The high temps are roughly 10 to 12 degrees warmer than the seasonal average.

Seventy-eight bunkers across the scorecard are not enough to slow this field down. The bigger challenges are sidehill lies, major championship pressure, and the closing stretch.

The greens are a Bentgrass-Poa mix, and water comes into play on three holes. Two of those penalty areas are on 16 and 18, so the final stretch can create plenty of drama.

The closing par 5 is familiar, and it has already proven it can flip the leaderboard in a hurry.

How To Win At Evian

Quick starts matter here.

Eleven of the last 12 winners have gone low in the opening round. Nine of them opened with rounds of 66 or better, and the group’s Round 1 scoring average is 65.8.

That makes sense. Opening a major with a lead does two things. It gives the player confidence, and it forces the rest of the field to play catch-up on a course where the leaders tend to stay in front.

Recent form also matters.

In 2022, Brooke Henderson won just three starts before taking home the Evian title. In 2024, Ayaka Furue had four top-10 finishes in five individual starts before her Evian win. Celine Boutier won the Evian in 2023, then followed it up with another win in Scotland the next week.

Grace Kim was a little harder to see coming, with just one top 10 in 2025 before winning at Evian.

But in general, Evian winners tend to show real form before getting the trophy.

Course history matters on the Champions Course, but we also want players competing at a high level over the last month. Especially because that stretch included two majors.

The Key Stats

The Evian is one big accuracy test.

If you’re going to cut this field down to a small list of possible winners, your picks better be sharp.

• Par-3 scoring is a huge separator. There are five par 3s on the card, and players are hitting those greens 71% of the time. The holes vary from 151 to 205 yards, and recent top-10 finishers have averaged 2.95 on the par 3s. That is why the outrights this week are all in the top 20% of the field in par-3 scoring.
• Par-4 success comes down to greens in regulation. Recent top-10 finishers have hit 77% of their greens in regulation overall. Last year, that number jumped to 79%. On the par 4s, the field hits GIRs at just 63%, so accurate par-4 scorers should have an edge.
• Par-5 scoring starts in the fairway. The field hits the fairway on the par 5s less than 60% of the time. The top contenders studied averaged 70% fairways hit across all 13 fairways. Length helps, but at Evian, being a bomber is not enough. Managing the par 5s from the short grass has proven to be more important.
• The putter still has to travel. Strokes gained putting sits just behind strokes gained approach in terms of leaderboard impact. The greens are smaller than average, so players who hit the center of the green and convert their chances should have the best formula.

The Champions Course offers plenty of scoring chances for players who can hit their targets.

Tee-to-green leaders have an advantage, but the winning score over the last five years is 16 under par. Recent top-10 finishers have averaged 20 sub-par scores over 72 holes.

So yes, you need to avoid mistakes. But at Evian, bogey avoidance is not quite as important as it is at the other majors. You need to make birdies.

Few consider the Evian worthy of major championship status. But whatever you think of the category, winning on the Champions Course takes a major skill set.

Seven of the last 12 Evian winners are multiple major winners. Only one American has won this event since it became a major.

Can Nelly Korda take down her third major of the season? She has a couple of top-10 finishes here, but none in the last two years.

This week, we are leaning into accurate ball strikers who have been scoring well in recent weeks. Those “weeks” just happen to include the U.S. Open and PGA Championship.

LPGA Free Picks

Hyo Joo Kim (+2500 FanDuel)

What did Hyo Joo Kim do during her week off?

She went to Korea and won.

Kim played in her second KLPGA event of the season, and she has now won both events she traveled home for this year.

She also has a strong history at Evian. Kim ranks eighth on the LPGA in strokes gained tee-to-green and first in putts per GIR.

That is a pretty lethal combination when you are coming in with form.

Jennifer Kupcho (+6600 BetMGM)

Jennifer Kupcho is another major winner who has been climbing leaderboards in big events this season.

She finished 12th at the Chevron and eighth at the U.S. Open. That U.S. Open skill set should translate well to the Champions Course.

Kupcho’s dominance off the tee has helped her build a strong Evian record, with finishes of 31st, 14th, 22nd, and 11th in her last four starts here.

Need a player to pop from deeper on the odds board?

Kupcho can do it.

The Genesis Scottish Open has been on a really good run the last few years.

Xander’s win in 2022. Rory with that insane, sawed-off long iron in 2023. Bobby Mac winning his home Open. And, of course, the kid from New Jersey staring down Rory on Sunday last year.

All to say, the Scottish Open is quietly becoming one of the better events on TOUR.

The field is always strong because it falls the week before The Open, and guys want to get over there, get adjusted, and remember what golf looks like when it’s played the way it was meant to be played.

It would be great to see these guys play links golf more than twice a year. I’m not sure how feasible that is, but every time they do it, the product is better.

Who’s In The Field?

Chris Gotterup will be looking to defend his title against the best of the best.

Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, and Xander Schauffele headline a full field of 156 players this week.

Full Field Here

Key Stats For The Genesis Scottish Open

Here are the key stats for this week at The Renaissance Club:

• Start with putting, then approach. SG: Putting has the strongest correlation with SG: Total here at 0.631, with SG: Approach next at 0.532. This is not a pure ball-striking week. Guys need to make putts when chances come, especially if conditions get firm or windy.
• Distance helps more than accuracy. Driving accuracy is way down at 48.1%, but the missed fairway penalty is only 0.31, which is actually lighter than TOUR average. Distance correlates better than accuracy here, so don’t over-penalize bombers who miss fairways.
• Long approach play matters. The approach distribution leans heavier from 200–225 yards and 250+ yards, so this is a good week to favor players who handle longer irons, hybrids, and fairway woods. Wedge-only profiles are less attractive than guys who can survive from distance and still convert on the greens.

The Details

Previous Winners

How To Watch

Featured Groups

Coverage on ESPN+ begins at 3:15 AM ET.

Featured Groups Here

Weekly Bets: Genesis Scottish Open

We’ve partnered with Keith Stewart at Read The Line to share his weekly golf betting picks with the Caddyshanks crew. If you’re the type who enjoys breaking down matchups, spotting trends, and hunting for value, you’ll feel right at home in the RTL community.

Use code CADDYSHANKS2026 for 20% OFF.

 

Keith Stewart’s Picks

 

Matt Fitzpatrick (+2100 DraftKings)

 

T2 in Canada, T4 at the Travelers, and three top-six results at the Scottish Open in his last five starts. Matt Fitzpatrick is ready for win number four this year.

Elite ball striking has been the DNA of his 2026 campaign, and now he heads to a place where he has never lost strokes with the putter. In seven starts at the Scottish Open, Fitzpatrick has gained an average of +4.6 strokes on the field with his flatstick.

Combine that with gaining strokes tee-to-green in 11 straight starts dating back to API, and few players are more suited to seal the deal in Scotland.

 

Nicolai Højgaard (+4800 DraftKings)

 

Nicolai Højgaard was in a bit of a slump, but he turned things around at the Travelers. Not a bad time to find something, especially considering his history at The Renaissance Club.

He has two top-six results here in the last three years, along with the ball speed and putting touch to get the job done.

Højgaard’s secret weapon? Iron play.

In his last three Scottish Open starts, Nicolai has gained an average of +5.3 strokes on approach. Combine that with his driver, and that’s a pretty strong formula.

Did I mention Højgaard ranked first in the field over the last two months in making putts inside 10 feet?

 

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Caddyshanks Picks

 

Scottie Scheffler (+480 DraftKings)

 

The “bet Scottie every week” strategy is running out of time, but we’ve still managed to pick four outright winners this year, so it hasn’t killed us yet.

He’s due.

 

Wyndham Clark (+3300 DraftKings)

 

Wyndham’s putter is on fire, and when you’re putting like that, it can become a superpower.

Matt Fitzpatrick and Chris Gotterup both already have three wins this season. Clark has a good chance to add his name to that list here.

 

Justin Thomas (+4000 DraftKings)

 

Justin Thomas has been rounding into form.

He has six straight top-20 finishes, and he’s in better form this year than he was last season, when he finished T22 at the Scottish Open.