{"id":851609,"date":"2026-09-18T02:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T02:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/851609\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T02:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T02:16:10","slug":"western-carolina-university-golfer-makes-history-at-biltmore-championship-asheville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/851609\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Carolina University golfer makes history at Biltmore Championship Asheville"},"content":{"rendered":"

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) \u2014 Western Carolina University senior Tyler Jones made history Thursday as the first active Catamount golfer to compete in a PGA TOUR event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was fine until they announced my name, then I kind of lost feeling in my legs, so that was great,\u201d Jones said. \u201cBut I hit it. It was great. I didn\u2019t miss a ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones, 21, teed off at the Biltmore Championship Asheville after receiving a sponsor exemption, a special invitation that allowed him to join a field of 132 golfers, including PGA TOUR professionals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI earned it, but I also feel like it\u2019s something I didn\u2019t deserve,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe don\u2019t deserve anything in life. Everything is a cherry on top.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones finished his opening round at even par.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack Nicklaus has a lot of cut holes, and I hit a cut, so I feel very comfortable over a lot of the tee shots,\u201d Jones said. \u201cYou have to hit fairways because the rough is really deep, and driving the golf ball is one of my strengths, which is huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

WNC NATIVE TURNED INTERNET STAR PROUD TO SEE HOMETOWN ON NATIONAL GOLF SCENE<\/a><\/p>\n

He said the experience felt familiar in some ways to college golf, but the tournament offered a few notable differences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main thing is having your own locker,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI think that\u2019s really cool. I get to leave my clubs here.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI get the golf balls I\u2019m playing with on the range, and that\u2019s different. I think it\u2019s really cool,\u201d Jones said. \u201cIf you hit a good shot, they clap, and I think that\u2019s really cool. You nod to them, and I think that\u2019s really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SEPT.<\/p>\n

SEPT. 17, 2026 – Western Carolina University senior golfer Tyler Jones, 21, and his crew at Biltmore Championship Asheville. (Photo credit: WLOS Staff)<\/p>\n

When asked about his favorite part of the experience, Jones said he enjoyed sharing the course with PGA TOUR professionals.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing all these pros out here, I\u2019m sharing the grounds with some really good golfers and some really unbelievable players,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

Jones said he was honored to represent Western Carolina University on one of golf\u2019s biggest stages.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust being able to represent the Catamounts at WCU is something I don\u2019t take lightly,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m honored.\u201d<\/p>\n

HOMETOWN FEEL: JACOB BRIDGEMAN SET TO TEE IT UP AT BILTMORE CHAMPIONSHIP ASHEVILLE<\/a><\/p>\n

Western Carolina alumnus J.T. Poston also competed in the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe like to fancy ourselves as a golf school,\u201d WCU golf coach Tim Eckberg said. \u201cHe\u2019s not the only player we\u2019re going to have coming out of here, so it\u2019s good to have another guy doing his reps and showing what he can do as well. We\u2019re going to keep building from this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eckberg said Jones handled the moment well and has the ability to continue building his golf career.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u201cTruly, the sky\u2019s the limit. He\u2019s showing it, three wins last year,\u201d Eckberg said. \u201cThe kid can flat-out play golf, and if that\u2019s what he wants to do, he\u2019s got a chance to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eckberg said Jones received strong support from Western Carolina fans during the opening round.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe hears \u2018Go cats\u2019 all the time, which is a great thing. Obviously, in our backyard, you\u2019re going to hear a ton of it,\u201d Eckberg said. \u201cBut we had so much purple following us, and the guys we were playing with today, they\u2019re professionals. We\u2019ve got a big crowd for a Thursday. This is pretty cool. It was really neat to see that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eckberg said Jones proved he could compete against the professional field in his PGA TOUR debut.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just good to see him against these guys and how he stacks up,\u201d Eckberg said. \u201cHe\u2019s a good egg. He\u2019s a heck of a player. I have no surprise that he\u2019s out here battling and will have a chance to make the weekend tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) \u2014 Western Carolina University senior Tyler Jones made history Thursday as the first active Catamount…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-851609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}