Tournament officials announced today that former Texas Longhorn Jordan Spieth is set to return to Austin for the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, March 24-28. Joining Spieth is 11-time PGA TOUR winner Sergio Garcia, seven-time TOUR winner and 2020 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, and reigning TOUR Rookie of the Year Scottie Scheffler.
Spieth, who lives nearby in Dallas, is set to make his seventh career start in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, where his deepest run came in his 2014 debut, losing in the quarterfinals to Ernie Els, 4 and 2. In two years at the University of Texas, Spieth helped his team defeat the University of Alabama in 2012 for the national championship with a 3-and-2 victory over Justin Thomas in the championship match. The two have gone on to combine for 24 PGA TOUR victories in the time since.
Spieth, who has not won on the PGA TOUR since the 2017 Open Championship, has enjoyed a career resurrection early in 2021, finishing T4 and T3 in back-to-back weeks at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, respectively.
Garcia, a native of Spain who is now a part-time resident of Austin, has fond history with the state of Texas, beginning with his professional debut in 1999 at the AT&T Byron Nelson in Dallas, and two years later with his first PGA TOUR win at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth. Garcia has advanced to at least the round of 16 seven times in his WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play career, including each of the last two years. With 17 prior tournament appearances to his credit, only Lee Westwood has more starts in the event than Garcia.
DeChambeau, who lives in Dallas, will be making his second career start at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play (2019). The 27-year-old burst onto the PGA TOUR scene with a win at the 2017 John Deere Classic, added four wins combined between the TOUR’s 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, then won the Rocket Mortgage Classic and U.S. Open at Winged Foot in 2020 (the latter by six shots) to emerge as one of the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking. While in college at Southern Methodist University, he won the 2015 NCAA Individual Championship at The Concession Golf Club in Florida – site of this week’s World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession.
Another former Longhorn joining Spieth in the field is Dallas native Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler won three straight state championship titles in high school before earning All-America honors at The University of Texas from 2014-2018. Scheffler, who turned professional in late 2018, experienced early success on the PGA TOUR, finishing fifth in the 2019-20 FedExCup as one of eight rookies to qualify for the Playoffs, and one of only two to advance to the TOUR Championship. The 24-year-old recorded seven top-10 finishes, posted a second-round 59 at THE NORTHERN TRUST, and earned PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year honors.
Other notable Texans returning to Austin Country Club in 2021 include San Antonio resident Abraham Ancer, Texas A&M alum Ryan Palmer and on the bubble at No. 68 in the Official World Golf Ranking is former Texas Longhorn Dylan Frittelli.
The long-awaited return of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play is in part due to its annual status of hosting one of the strongest fields of the PGA TOUR season. In 2019, FedExCup winner Rory McIlroy, 82-time PGA TOUR winner Tiger Woods, 2019 PGA TOUR Player of the Year Brooks Koepka, 2017 FedExCup champion Justin Thomas and 2015 FedExCup champion Jordan Spieth each competed in the event. Only the top 64 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are invited to play in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, a strict qualification guideline that ensures the field in Austin annually consists of the very best players from around the world from all Tours. After a year away, golf’s best players will be primed to return to Austin Country Club.
A limited number of positions remain available to volunteer for the 2021 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. For more information about how to register visit dellmatchplay.com and follow our social channels to keep up with tournament updates on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @DellMatchPlay.