How the Concession prepared for 10,000+ golf fans at the Senior PGA Championship
When television cameras roll and spectators arrive Thursday at The Concession Golf Club for the Senior PGA Championship, the course will look much different than in tournaments past.
About 30 acres of palmetto plants were removed, making the course more spectator-friendly and creating a new aesthetic for players attempting to win the senior game’s oldest major championship.
“You couldn’t see between one hole and another,” said Kerry Haigh, PGA of America’s chief championships officer, about the palmetto removals. “There is now a number of areas where you have views through to other holes. Spectators will be able to walk from (hole No.) 16 to 17, whereas before they had to walk all the way to the green (and then) all the way back around the palmetto.”
Eleven past Senior PGA Champions, 21 major champions, seven World Golf Hall of Famers and 10 past Ryder Cup captains are in the field for this year’s tournament.
That includes defending champion Angel Cabrera.
Some of the previous major champs teeing it up Thursday include Darren Clarke, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Bernhard Langer, John Daly among others.
“Every single name is going to be familiar for the most part,” Bradenton resident and 1993 PGA Champion Paul Azinger said. “The ones that aren’t familiar really did earn their spot. This is a big deal. It goes back a long time, and it’s the biggest of all the senior majors. It’s right up there with the Senior U.S. Open. And I’m so proud of our area.”
How the Concession caught the PGA’s attention
The Concession Golf Club landed on Haigh’s radar right after it opened in 2006. Golf Digest named the East Manatee course its “Best New Private Course,” that year.
“It was tough then, and it’s tough now,” Haigh said. “It’s a really challenging, fun golf course.”
The course, a Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin design commemorating the moment where Nicklaus conceded the final putt of the 1969 Ryder Cup to Jacklin, began its path toward hosting a senior major championship a few years after opening.
Bruce Cassidy Sr. became the Concession’s owner in 2009, and the course started hosting high-profile tournaments. They included several college events, culminating in the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Division I National Championships in 2015.
“It’s kind of a stepping stone from each one to get elevated,” Cassidy said.
Then in 2021, the Concession got its first chance to host a PGA event. The PGA Tour’s World Golf Championship-Workday was scheduled to take place in Mexico that year, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was relocated to Florida.
In 2023, the PGA Tour Champions returned to the area after a 23-year hiatus with the inaugural World Champions Cup held at the Concession. The tournament was a Ryder Cup-style team event pitting the United States, Europe and an International side against each other.
“Each (tournament), we felt we showcased the course very well and it was run very well,” Cassidy said.
Landing the Senior PGA Championship
With the foundation set, talks between the PGA and the Concession continued. They eventually reached an agreement for the golf course to host the Senior PGA Championship for three years, starting in 2026.
Course visits and discussions ensued over how to prepare the course for a major championship attended by an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 fans.
Haigh said a critical part of the process is building a close relationship with the grounds crew — especially the superintendent.
“He wants the golf course to be showcased beautifully,” Haigh said. “And we want to showcase the course in its best light. We think doing that is to make it playable, make it tough and make it fair so that the best players can showcase their skills.”
Preparing for championship week
The Concession’s director of grounds is Jason Rouk, who has a 32-year career in the golf industry.
Rouk grew up in Oklahoma and played Division II college golf before finishing his undergrad at Oklahoma State’s Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. One way or another, Rouk says he always knew he’d be in the golf business.
The 2026 Senior PGA Championship will be the third senior major championship of his career after two Countrywide Traditions at Desert Mountain in Scottsdale, Arizona, in the early 2000s.
“The environments are different … southeast versus southwest,” said Rouk, who has a master’s degree from the University of Houston. “All of the operations are the same. The mowers are the same. The turf grass is very similar. … The biggest differences would be 10 years ago, the mowing heights were a lot higher than they are today. So the industry is trending firmer and faster every year at (a) rapid speed.”
Helping Rouk is a staff of more than 30, which includes two superintendents. Rouk said 80% of his staff has been with the club since 2006.
“So we have a very seasoned staff,” Rouk said. “They know this place in and out, which makes my job and my manager’s jobs much easier.”
Rouk added: “We like to pride ourselves here that we’re within three to four weeks of holding any major championship.”
In the months and weeks leading up to this week’s Senior PGA Championship, Rouk and his staff cleared roughly 30 acres of palmettos and replaced them with a combination of pine straw and Bahia grass.
They also ramped up mowing frequencies with fairways, while getting the rough to sit at almost two inches and double-cutting greens to get it at championship speed, Rouk said.
PGA Championship: What to know if you go
Tickets start at $61 for Thursday and Friday, and increase to $67 for Saturday and Sunday. The Club PGA package, a VIP ticket, costs $636 for the first and second rounds and $686 for the weekend rounds.
Junior golf fans aged 15 and younger receive free tickets when they are with a ticketed adult. Children under the age of 2 do not need a ticket. There is a maximum of four junior grounds tickets per adult, which can be obtained at the course.
Active duty, retirees, reserve, veterans and National Guard military members receive one free daily grounds ticket with one guest to the Senior PGA Championship.
Parking will be available at the Premier Sports Campus, 5895 Post Blvd., Lakewood Ranch, with a complimentary shuttle service to the course starting at 6:30 a.m. daily. The shuttle service ends at 8:45 p.m. on April 16 and 17 and at 7:30 p.m. on April 18 and 19.
What’s next for the Concession?
The Senior PGA Championship begins Thursday and runs through Sunday, but it is just the beginning of the organization’s partnership with the Concession Golf Club.
The club signed a three-year deal to return the Senior PGA Championship to the Manatee County course in 2027 and 2028.
It will mark the first time since 2000 that a course has hosted the tournament in two consecutive years. 2000 is also the last time a Florida course held the Senior PGA Championship.
It was held at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens from 1982 to 2000.
“My ultimate prize is to get the regular tour, the PGA Championship,” Cassidy said. “So this will give us a leg up in that. We do the job I know we can do here, then we’ll have some talks about that one next.”
