AUSTIN, Texas — So long, Dell Match Play.
Nice knowing you.
After Sunday’s final round concludes, Austin will say goodbye to the both cherished and cursed eight-year-old event, and it will be a sad farewell to a friend.
The mouthful of all golf tournaments, the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, quickly became one of the more popular dates on the schedule among the players, fans and sponsors and remains so. Or did.
The event at venerable Austin Country Club has seen major champions such as Scottie Scheffler, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson and Jason Day loft the Walter Hagen Cup on Sundays but also an ultimate grinder, Kevin Kisner. But because of the beauty of the quirky format and the depth of the field, it’s never disappointed.
Little chance of that when you have, as this year, a tournament with 64 of the best 77 golfers in the world, minus the nine ineligible LIV players. It’s been a huge success that’s almost universally embraced by the players.
Match Play: Sunday’s Final 4, tee times
So it makes little sense that the WGC-Dell Match Play is going away for good after Sunday. In the city that always keeps it weird, how weird is that, especially since there are zero plans for the PGA Tour to replace it with another match play event elsewhere?
“I would love to see there still be a match play event at some point,” said Rickie Fowler, who didn’t make it out of group play. “I prefer kind of the 64 knockout (from the start). But it’s fun. We obviously wouldn’t want it every week just because of how volatile it is, but I would love to see a form of it be in the future on the Tour.”
Fowler’s sentiments have been pretty much shared by all in the field and most who have been associated with the event.
“It’s a bittersweet time,” ACC golf pro emeritus Dale Morgan said. “We’ve had a great run, and we’re going to have a great champion. And who knows? Maybe someday we’ll get another tournament here with a different format.”
It gave as much as we got, and I’m not just talking the $6 million donated to Dell Children’s Medical Center and First Tee. Upwards of 10,000 a day have walked through the gates to see golf royalty.
And while we’re used to saying goodbye to Austin institutions such as Threadgill’s and Armadillo World Headquarters and Hut’s and Players — the hamburger joint, not TPC Sawgrass — it’s incredibly sad to lose something so special. Just when the Austin metro area is neck-deep…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golfweek…