The PGA Tour "is completing plans to bring the Match Play Championship to Austin" starting in '16, according to Doug Ferguson of the AP. Three sources said that Texas-based computer company Dell "will be the title sponsor of the World Golf Championship event that features the top 64 players from the world ranking." The event "would be held next year on March 23-27, the week after the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill and the week before the Shell Houston Open." A source said that the Match Play "initially would be held at Austin Country Club, although that still requires a vote of the membership." It would be "the sixth course for the Match Play Championship since the WGC series began" in '99. This year's Match Play is April 29-May 3 at TPC Harding Park in S.F., with Cadillac "filling in as a title sponsor" (AP, 2/27). In Austin, Kirk Bohls reported Dell is expected to have "at least a four-year run" as the title sponsor. The PGA Tour "settled on the Pete Dye-designed course" at Austin Country Club "over the Austin Golf Club because of closer access to downtown and all its hotel rooms." But gaining approval of the 625 active ACC members "might not be a sure thing, and they’ll vet the issue at a town hall meeting this month before voting" (AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 3/1).
LEFT COAST LEFT BEHIND: In S.F., Ron Kroichick wrote the PGA Tour's decision not to return the event to S.F. next year "comes as little surprise," as officials "view Harding as an ideal venue for marquee events occasionally, but not annually." The city’s revised contract with the Tour, which also includes the '20 PGA Championship and '25 Presidents Cup, "allows for more than those tournaments." The Tour "also has the option of adding another event" in '16, ’17 or ’18, and then another one in '21, ’22 or ’23. One potential solution "is to make Harding part of a Match Play rotation -- though it sounds like the tournament probably will set up camp in Austin, given Dell’s headquarters there" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 2/28).
