The PGA Tour is returning to a city that hasn’t hosted an event since 2023. Part of the FedEx Cup Fall stretch, the stop’s title sponsor and exact format are still unconfirmed. While it won’t match the prestige of the former WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, it marks an exciting comeback for a key market.

It  is set to return to Austin in 2026 with a new event at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa, per Sports Business Journal. For nearly a decade, the Dell Match Play put Austin in the spotlight with a prime slot two weeks before the Masters, drawing one of the season’s strongest fields. Unfortunately, the new event will most probably not have that luxury.

Slated for the fall season, it’s expected to draw a thinner field with top-ranked players typically winding down after the Playoffs. Even so, it gives the Tour a foothold back in one of the country’s fastest-growing cities and adds to an already stacked Texas lineup that also includes Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Fort Worth. By 2026, the state will host as many tournaments as Florida. That says a lot about how valuable Texas has become for the PGA Tour.

The return comes after a turbulent exit. The Dell Match Play ended amid the PGA Tour’s 2023 overhaul in response to LIV Golf, when Commissioner Jay Monahan confirmed the WGC series would be replaced by new “designated events.”

These are the ones we know as Signature Events, which aim to guarantee star appearances, a massive purse, and stick to 72-hole stroke play. This move came from the Tour itself, and it was done to reshape the season around the majors, the Players Championship, and the Playoffs. It’s interesting to see this potential return, especially with all the ongoing murmurs around the LIV-PGA Tour situation and Brian Rolapp’s emergence as the new CEO of the Tour, who is trying to undo things that Monahan did.

Even without the LIV drama, match play had always been tricky to sell. Fans loved the unpredictability, but sponsors and TV partners weren’t comfortable with it. Big names could be knocked out early, leaving Sunday with matchups that didn’t pull much attention. For instance, in the 2018 event, then World No. 1 Dustin Johnson lost his first two group-stage matches and was eliminated on the second day.

That’s precisely what frustrated Dell. Even Scottie Scheffler, who won the event in 2022 and reached the final again in 2023, admitted the problem wasn’t the golf but the optics. “I think match play is a good change of pace. Commercially, I don’t know how well it works when it comes to TV and only having so many guys on the golf course on the weekend,” he said at the time. But he did love the concept and wished to have it back. Even Billy Horschel admitted that he was “sad to see it go.”

Then there was the mess with the Austin Country Club (ACC). Negotiations broke down when the club pushed for a higher site fee. Members were also getting tired of losing access to the course every spring. By the time ACC tried to walk things back to re-engage on the Tour’s original terms, it was already too late. The Tour had gone quiet and moved on. The result was the 2023 Match Play being the last, and with it, the quiet death of the WGC brand. For Austin fans, it felt like a hard top, one that might take years to reverse. But three years later, here we are – the city is back on the calendar!

This new Barton Creek event won’t have the prestige of a WGC or the drama of the Match Play that guaranteed heavyweight clashes. It’s not trying to. What it does is to restore Austin’s place on the PGA Tour map. Austin is simply too big, too lucrative, and too good a golf city to leave out for long.

Moreover, the Omni Resort and Spa does share its own share of significant golf history and will be more than ready to carry on that legacy.

Omni Barton Creek has a proven pedigree

While the Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa has never hosted a PGA Tour event, the property has long been a stage for significant golf competitions. In 2022, it hosted the PGA Professional Championship on its Fazio Foothills and Coore Crenshaw Cliffside courses, where Jesse Mueller claimed a five-shot victory in one of the most important events for PGA professionals. Three years earlier, the resort had welcomed the Women’s PGA Cup, an international match-play competition where Team USA defended its crown against Canada and others. Omni Barton Creek also has roots in the senior have, having hosted the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf on the Champions Tour.

Beyond past tournaments, Omni Barton Creek’s reputation as a world-class golf venue is reinforced by its broader connections. The resort has been part of the PGA Tour’s official partnership with Omni Hotels & Resorts, positioning its courses as marquee destinations. The property has even staged unique events like the family-focused Generation Cup. All of this history and course quality likely made the resort a natural choice for the Tour to anchor its long-awaited return to Austin.