Houston in line to take Austin’s spot on 2024 schedule
Houston could be pushing Austin off the PGA Tour calendar for 2024, according to a report in Golfweek.
The Cadence Bank Houston Open, which was off the schedule for this fall in hopes of landing a more favorable spot on the PGA schedule, is in line to replace the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event that had been played in late March at the Austin Country Club since 2016.
The Austin American Statesman reported the future of the match play event was “on a breathing machine” because of a dispute between Austin Country Club and the PGA Tour over how much the club would receive to host the event.
The tour paid ACC $2 million last year and had offered $3 million this year, but that was rejected by the club. Negotiations have broken off, and the sides haven’t met since August.
Golfweek described Astros owner Jim Crane as playing hardball in hopes of getting the Houston event back on the regular schedule. The Astros Golf Foundation took over the Houston stop in 2019 and moved it to Memorial Park.
“We have always made it very clear with the PGA Tour that we want to be in the spring,” Giles Kibbe, president of the Astros Golf Foundation, told the Chronicle after the conclusion of the 2022 Houston Open in November. “There’s a good chance that we’re going to be in the spring sooner rather than later. But there’s no guarantees at this point. We’ll just keep working toward that goal and hopefully get there soon.”
“Our primary goal is to be one of the top events on the PGA Tour in the spring,” Kibbe added. “If that happens in 2024, great. If it’s ’25 or ’26, that’s fine, too.”
The Houston event was not on the fall schedule for 2023, which would make sense if Houston were to host in spring of 2024.