Dell Match Play to be scrapped; Austin CC demands too great for PGA Tour

Rest in peace, World Golf Championships.

Golfweek has learned that this will be the final year of the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin. Its spot in the 2024 schedule, which is typically in late March on the back end of the Florida Swing, is expected to be filled by the Cadence Bank Houston Open.

Austin Country Club has been the host venue for the Match Play since 2016 when Dell became the title sponsor. At the time, the World Golf Championships were considered the highest-ranking tournaments in golf behind the four majors and the Players Championship, the Tour’s flagship event.

Purses for the WGCs, which began in 1999, were elevated, the fields were limited mostly to top-ranked players, and there were no-cut events. (Tiger Woods won 18 WGCs with Dustin Johnson capturing the second most with 5.) In 2021, the number of WGC events was reduced by two with the WGC Mexico Open being scaled back to a regular PGA Tour event and the WGC FedEx St. Jude being converted to the first leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

The demise of the WGC Match Play technically leaves the WGC HSBC Champions as the last WGC standing but the tournament, which is contested in China, hasn’t been played since 2019 due to COVID-19. There’s no indication that the tournament will be able to be staged this year either, and the LPGA just canceled a tournament on Hainan Island in China that was scheduled for March due to “ongoing COVID-19 related matters.”

The Dell Match Play, where Scottie Scheffler won to reach World No. 1 last spring, is one of the Tour’s new designated events this season. It will be contested in March for a tournament-record purse of $20 million, but that is also the same amount as 10 elevated tournaments, which has cheapened the WGC brand. (Having the majority of the events staged in the U.S. also made the name a misnomer.)

The PGA Tour Player Advisory Council met last Tuesday at the Farmers Insurance Open and the 2024 Tour schedule was a topic of conversation. Kevin Streelman, who is a member of the PAC, confirmed that the future of the Dell Match Play was on the agenda.

“They talked about that a little bit,” Streelman said. “Hopefully they can save it. It’s a sponsorship issue.”

“It’s pretty common knowledge,” Streelman…