The WGCs Are Done, and For Now Match Play on the PGA Tour Is Too

Sunday's star-filled finale had many wondering why the format isn't continuing.

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As a final WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship played out over the last week at Austin Country Club, a common question arose: Why is it ending?

A match play tournament has been part of the PGA Tour schedule since 1999 when the World Golf Championships were born. Of course, the WGC concept has all but seen its final days, and while that doesn’t mean a match play tournament had to come to an end, without the WGC distinction, it meant no match play event for 2024.

“For next season's schedule, it didn’t work," said PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. “But match play has been a staple out here. It’s been a staple of the DP World Tour. That will certainly be a consideration as we go forward."

Matt Kuchar, who tied Tiger Woods for the most victories in the match play event with 36 when he made it out of his round-robin group on Friday, was among those lamenting the demise of the tournament.

“I will miss it for sure," he said. "I think these events are great; 72-hole stroke play every week sometimes runs a bit together. I miss the old International at Castle Pines. Miss the Stableford format (which is still used at the Barracuda Championship, an opposite field event). I think it was fun to mix it up.

“Match play, I certainly love, as you would guess with a good record, something unique, something different to do. Yeah, I’m bummed this is the final year for it."

Having Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns in the final four certainly didn’t hurt. But playing the tournament two weeks prior to the Masters was always a problem in recent years, as was the new round-robin format instead of straight knockout.

Going forward, finding a place for match play will be a challenge. Would one of the future designated events choose it as the format? If not, then a regular event runs the risk of having very few top players.

Perhaps the PGA Tour and DP World Tours can put their heads together and figure out a way to have a co-sanctioned match play tournament with some impressive inducements to get players there.