Course Preview and Fits: Austin Championship

The last of the new FedEx Cup fall stops is here, with the Austin Championship debuting at the Fazio Canyons course at Omni Barton Creek, just west of Austin. It is a 120-man field playing for a $6 million purse and 500 FedEx Cup points, and with only the RSM left after this week, plenty of players are fighting to get inside the top 100 and keep their cards for 2027. None of the world’s top 25 are in attendance, making for a classic “anything goes,” end-of-season type week.

The Course:

Fazio Canyons is a Tom Fazio design (shocker) that opened in 1999 in the Texas Hill Country, and it plays as a par 72 at 7,451 yards for its first Tour event. A 2022 renovation added new back tees and rebuilt the bunkers and greens. It is Bermudagrass throughout, and with the event in mid-November, the rough should be thinning ahead of the winter dormant period.

Almost every hole plays uphill or downhill, many tees sit well above the landing areas, and the back nine has the most severe changes, with ravines and a few blind shots. Short Springs Branch, a limestone-bedded creek, crosses two fairways, runs down the side of another, and fronts one green before wrapping the left side of the 18th. Water comes into play on about seven holes, along with ravines and out-of-bounds; though on most holes, the trouble sits on just one side. The fairways are generous by Tour standards, especially on the front nine, and most of the bunkers are large, steep-faced, and around the greens. The greens are big, with gentler slopes on the front and more tiers on the back.