The WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play 2023 will be the last to be played from March 22 to 26 in Austin (Texas). The only tournament in this game formula will indeed disappear from the 2024 calendar. And no date for a possible return has yet been set.
Is this the end of an era? Anyway, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play lives its last days. Jordan Upplegerthe Vice-President and Director of Championships Management on the PGA Tourconfirmed this Monday in Austin (Texas) that the tournament would no longer be on the calendar in 2024.
« For an event to be a success, you must display three main pointsexplained Uppleger. You must have an active title sponsor, a site (namely theAustin Country Club) involved and the customers concerned. The WGC-Match Play somehow exceeded all those expectations because here we are (in Austin) since 2016… »
The Houston Open on the same date in 2024…
But obviously, that’s not enough. Or not enough. This is all the more true since no tournament in Match Play formula is scheduled in the PGA Tour 2024 calendar. Generally positioned at the end of March, it should be “replaced” on the same date next year. speak Cadence Bank Houston Open. Even if another niche could be chosen. We thus evoke the end of April, the beginning of May…
One thing is certain, it’s a blow for lovers of this game format, so prized by professional golfers, obviously approaching the spirit of the mythical Ryder Cup.
The PGA Tour, however, does not definitively close the door
Jordan Uppleger hasn’t completely closed the door on a possible return of such a tournament in the future, however. Until recently, this World Championship was nevertheless considered one of the most important tournaments of the season, behind the four Major tournaments and the Players Championship. Times have apparently changed…
« If we have possibilities of returning to Austin in the near future, we will obviously study the question very seriously.concludes Uppleger. What’s happening today (with the WGC-Match Play), we have already encountered it throughout our history. For some reasons, we had to leave some markets… »
Not sure that golf fans share the opinion of the PGA Tour authorities, just days after the disclosure of the reforms made by the PGA Tour on the 2024 calendar…
Photo : Kevin C. Cox / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP
