The PGA TOUR Heads to Austin With a New Name, a New Sponsor and a 120-Player Field

The PGA TOUR's newest stop was supposed to be a victory lap for golf's YouTube generation. Instead, the inaugural event in Austin arrives next week with a new name, a new presenting sponsor and a field full of players who need it to go well.

The Tour released the 120-player field for the Austin Championship presented by Compliance Solutions (opens in a new tab) on Friday, with two-time fall winner Austin Smotherman, Max Homa and rookie Jackson Koivun among the headliners. The tournament runs Nov. 12 to 15 on the Fazio Canyons Course at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa, with a $6 million purse, Golf Channel reported (opens in a new tab). It is the PGA TOUR's first event in Austin since the 2023 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.

How It Lost Its Name

This event was announced as the Good Good Championship, named for the YouTube golf brand. That changed in August. Good Good stepped away as title sponsor after a backlash over a promotional ad for a co-branded Callaway driver, in which a Good Good member knocked down a woman who reached for his golf bag, Golf Channel reported at the time. The ad was pulled, Callaway cut ties with the brand, and Golf Channel canceled the current season of its Big Break x Good Good series, which had been set to award a sponsor exemption into this very tournament.

PGA TOUR CEO Brian Rolapp had called the ad "clearly not aligned with PGA Tour values," per Golf Channel. The Tour kept the event on the calendar under the name Austin Championship and went looking for a new partner.

On Nov. 2, it found one. PGA TOUR announced (opens in a new tab) Compliance Solutions, a compliance, accounting, tax and advisory firm, as presenting sponsor. The company is no stranger to pro golf. It has been title sponsor of the Korn Ferry Tour's Compliance Solutions Championship since 2023 and presenting sponsor of the Stifel Charity Classic on PGA TOUR Champions since 2025.

"The PGA TOUR is pleased to welcome Compliance Solutions as presenting sponsor of the inaugural Austin Championship," said Dan Glod, the Tour's executive vice president of corporate partnerships.

Who Is Teeing It Up

The field leans hard on the fall's storylines. Smotherman has been the hottest player of the autumn, winning the Bank of Utah Championship in his 100th start and then going back to back with a Monday playoff win at Bermuda. Homa, Billy Horschel, Brian Harman, Lucas Glover, Matt Kuchar, Nick Taylor, Chris Kirk and Denny McCarthy bring the name recognition. Koivun, a rookie, and Gordon Sargent bring a younger edge.

Then there is Blades Brown. The 19-year-old became the youngest Korn Ferry Tour graduate ever in October and is in the Austin field, per PGA TOUR, a preview of the kind of player the Tour will be building around when its new structure lands in 2028.

The sponsor exemptions went to Christiaan Maas, Tommy Morrison, Miles Russell and Cole Sherwood, per PGA TOUR, and Casey Russell gets in as a PGA section champion. Maas and Morrison are two of five former Texas Longhorns in the field, along with Pierceson Coody, Doug Ghim and Beau Hossler, according to Golf Channel. Expect some burnt orange in the gallery. Four spots remain open for qualifiers.

What Is at Stake

This is not an exhibition. Austin is the penultimate event of the FedExCup Fall, and the winner gets 500 FedExCup points, per PGA TOUR. That matters because the Fall standings set 2027 status. Finishing inside the top 100 locks up a PGA TOUR card for next season, and Nos. 51 to 60, the Aon Next 10, earn spots in the first two Signature Events of 2027 at Pebble Beach and Riviera.

With only Austin and The RSM Classic left after this week, a good four days at Barton Creek can turn a stressful offseason into a quiet one. A missed cut can do the opposite.

The Course and the Cause

Tom Fazio designed the Canyons course in 1999 and recently restored it, per PGA TOUR. It plays as a par 72 at 7,451 yards. Proceeds benefit local charities in Travis County and the greater Austin area, with Play Yellow, a Children's Miracle Network program supporting pediatric cancer work at Dell Children's Medical Center, and Folds of Honor as the primary beneficiaries. Golf Channel carries the TV coverage, with PGA TOUR Live streaming on the ESPN App.

The Take

A new event usually gets one shot at a first impression, and this one already burned a news cycle on the wrong kind of headline. The good news for Austin is that the golf can fix that. A loaded bubble, a hot Smotherman and a teenager like Brown give the Tour plenty to sell, and a quiet, competitive week at Barton Creek would be the best possible answer to a messy summer.

Sources: PGA TOUR and Golf Channel. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo Credit: Austin Championship presented by Compliance Solutions via PGA TOUR.