Austin is getting PGA Tour golf back this fall, but the road to the first tee has been anything but smooth.

Three years after the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play left Austin Country Club, the PGA Tour is returning to the Texas capital with a new FedEx Cup Fall event at the Fazio Canyons course at Barton Creek Resort.

The tournament, however, has undergone a significant makeover before its debut. Good Good Golf was originally expected to sponsor the event before an Aug. 21 advertisement promoting its driver collaboration with Callaway sparked widespread backlash. The video depicted Good Good co-founder Garrett Clark shoving a woman to the ground, and PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp later announced the sponsors were moving away from the tournament.

Golfweek caught up with tournament director Ian Helm before we broke the news that Compliance Solutions is expected to be announced as a presenting sponsor of the event, scheduled for Nov. 12-15. An official announcement from the PGA Tour is expected soon, potentially as early as Monday.

Here's what Helm had to say:

I think it’s just a testament that Austin was the right market, no matter the title sponsor. It’s a community that loves PGA Tour golf, and I think it’s going to continue to support it no matter the title. They’re really rallying around this thing.

Obviously, a lot is going to change with this event compared to Match Play. It’s a different golf course, a different time of year and part of the Fall Series. But I think Austin is the one thing that’s remained consistent, and that’s the strong community support.

There’s no stronger tie to Austin than the University of Texas. We’re excited to see a lot of Longhorn professionals already in the field based on their own merit. But the opportunity to add two young, promising players with Tommy and Christiaan was an easy decision on our side.

It’s always a hard decision when you’re evaluating all the different exemption requests, but having the UT tie-in is going to resonate well with Austin. And Cole Sherwood, obviously not UT but being a local, we’re really excited about putting him in the field as well.

Ultimately, we’re being careful. We don’t want to bite off more than we can chew. We want to lean in and make it feel like an event that’s unique to Austin and, again, make sure people want to come back next year and have a positive experience.

Is there absolutely an opportunity where we could potentially move back into the springtime? I think those conversations are all happening at a good time, as we’re all following what’s happening with the PGA Tour schedule and format in 2028. Time will tell, but I think we’re extremely optimistic about where we’re sitting right now.

Conversations are ongoing with lead sponsors and all those different scenarios. There are so many different hypotheticals going into it. Obviously, the closer we get, the more challenging it is operationally and logistically to accomplish those deliverables from a marketing perspective, but you can’t rule anything out.

As the PGA Tour goes forward with conversations with all these potential prospects, every prospect is going to have a different budget, a different vision and a different goal for the event. So ultimately, given where we are and going through the format changes, I think it’s playing in our favor. It just opens up more possibilities.

Certainly, the identity of this event has changed. But again, at the end of the day, I think the PGA Tour product is extremely strong. Regardless, people here are interested in seeing professional golf played at an extremely high level, which we’re going to be able to produce and deliver.

I think the venue is going to serve us great. Obviously, the players have a great setup, with the resort being right here on site, a place they’re familiar with from the Dell Technologies Match Play years.

It’s all coming together. When you go into a year-one event and have to build a site plan, every site is different. You have to consider all sorts of things: How are people coming? How are people going? Where are you setting up your fan destinations? Where do you want to funnel fans?

Even with everything that’s happened with the lead sponsor change and transition, that core site plan has remained intact. We feel very strongly that it’s going to be a great experience.

Also, as we go through this year, a big emphasis for us, especially now being the Austin Championship, is finding the right partners who are going to help deliver a positive fan experience. A big piece of that is you don’t necessarily need a high-end hospitality ticket to come out and enjoy everything this event has to offer.

Thanks to partnerships we’ve secured with Tito’s Vodka and Delta Air Lines, we’ve got some open-to-the-public venues on the back nine where folks can come in with a general-admission ticket, have a tent and shaded space to hang out all day, grab a refreshment, grab some food and take in the action.

Those two venues are going to stand out. Then also The Rock House, which we were at during the announcement, is a super-cool space. We’ll be opening that up again as a public area.

We’re not oblivious to the fact that it is football season. We want to make sure folks can come in and check the score of the Longhorns game or the Aggies game or whatever else is going on. It’s going to be a fun, lively environment down there right off the 18th green as well.