USTIN, Texas – The World Golf Championships — a bold concept born from the threat of a potential rival league led by Greg Norman (sound familiar?) — have died. They were 24.

Technically, the concept will linger for a few more days with this week’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play set to mark the unofficial swansong, and PGA Tour officials will also point out the circuit is under contract to continue playing the WGC-HSBC Champions, but that event hasn’t been held since 2019 and it doesn’t seem the circuit is heading back to China any time soon.

“We've not played [in China] in three years, and it's difficult to foresee when we would play. Part of the decision we're making as it relates to the WGC-Dell Match Play is a result of that,” commissioner Jay Monahan said earlier this month. “Right now, you see the direction the PGA Tour’s heading in. It is with these designated events; it's with the concentration of the best players on the PGA Tour competing in them, I really don't expect that to change as we go forward.”