The final World Golf Championship event left on the PGA Tour schedule is coming to an end.
WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play executive director Jordan Uppleger confirmed at the event’s media day Monday that the tournament won’t be coming back next year.
“We’re formally announcing today that the 2023 World Golf Championship Dell Technologies Match Play will be the final playing of the event here at Austin Country Club, and not be included on the 2024 calendar or moving forward,” Uppleger said, according to Golfweek. “The event has had an incredible run here at Austin Country Club.”
The announcement confirms a February report from Golfweek about the event’s future.
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The WGC-Match Play has been the only regular match-play event on the PGA Tour since its creation back in 1999. Since last season, it was also the only remaining WGC event on the PGA Tour’s schedule. The WGC-HSBC Champions was slated to be played for the first time since 2019 last October before being canceled in July due to COVID-19-related restrictions in China.
The WGCs were created in 1999 by the International Federation of PGA Tours as official money events on both the PGA and European (now DP World) Tours. The events were also sanctioned by the Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, Sunshine Tour, and PGA Tour of Australasia.
The WGC-Championship was last played in 2021 as the WGC-Workday Championship while the WGC-Invitational morphed into the first FedEx Cup Playoff event starting in 2022. Meanwhile, the WGC-Match Play was given Designated status for 2023 when the PGA Tour first announced the new $20 million mega events last summer.
The tournament has been played at Austin Country Club since 2016 after landing Austin-area-based Dell as the title sponsor. Previously it was played in Arizona, California and for one year in Australia.
Dell’s sponsorship was renewed in 2019 to extend through this season with Austin Country Club remaining as the host.
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“I was told you had to have three main components to have a successful event, you had to have an active title sponsor, an engaging country club and a supporting community and client base,” Uppleger said. “And there is no doubt that this event has exceeded all of those expectations as we’ve been here since 2016.”
The tournament’s slot on the calendar is expected to be filled by the Cadence Bank Houston Open as it moves from the fall portion of the schedule. Uppleger also said the PGA Tour is still looking at Austin to host a future event.
The 2024 schedule, with significant changes as the PGA Tour moves forward with its “Designated Events Model” is expected to be unveiled this week at the Players Championship.
This year’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play is set for March 22-26 with Scottie Scheffler defending.
