The Concession hunts for its first Major

Owning a championship-level golf course comes with plenty of perks, but few can compare to the one Bruce Cassidy experienced in 2009, when he found himself in a foursome with the designers of his course, The Concession Golf Club. One was the legendary Jack Nicklaus, and the other was Tony Jacklin, who won the British open in 1969 and the U.S. Open in ’70. “Jack played in boat shoes,” Cassidy recalls. “He wasn’t playing that much golf then and he shot his age that day, 72.”

The friendly round was rendered even more poignant because The Concession Golf Club is named after a revered moment in golf history that involved the same men who designed the course. On the final hole of the 1969 Ryder Cup, Nicklaus picked up Jacklin’s ball marker, thus conceding him the putt and ending the fraught tournament in a tie. After Nicklaus’s show of sportsmanship, the two came together in a bro-hug. 

Cassidy recalls that Nicklaus wasn’t conceding anything during the round at The Concession. “They were good, good friends, but still competitive as ever,” he says. “I think Jack just made up his mind that Tony wasn’t going to beat him that day.”

Cassidy recounted the story during an interview in mid-June, about two weeks after The Concession landed a three-year deal to host the PGA Senior Championship, a major tournament in the 50-and-over division. The first edition will be held next year, April 16-19.

Hosting a seniors major is another score in the long game to win the ultimate target: hosting the PGA Championship — one of pro golf’s four major tournaments. That won’t be for a while, though. The next available slot is 2035, according to Cassidy. In 2023, The Concession team made a bid for the 2031 PGA Championship, but the effort fell short. (The 2025 PGA Championship was held in Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.) 

Big money

For now, the focus is on the senior championship. The tournament will provide an economic boon to the region, particularly in tourism — exciting news to Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Elliott Falcione. “Our destination will be seen in a half-million households in 110 countries,” he says. “I’m a pretty conservative guy when it comes to [estimating] direct economic impact, but I think it’s going to be in the $25 to $30 million range.”

Manatee and Sarasota counties each pledged $4.5 million — $1.5 million per year, all culled from tourism tax dollars — toward promoting their joint destination during the telecasts. (On-air it will be called Sarasota-Bradenton, after the airport). “That buys us a lot of brand awareness,” Falcione says. “Who’s [our] target market? Really, it’s boomers. And who’s likely to watch the Senior PGA Championship? Boomers.”

Courtesy image

Cassidy, 75, is himself a baby boomer. He grew up one of six siblings in Steubenville, Ohio. His father was a coal truck driver, paid by the load. As it happened, coal was where Cassidy made his fortune. He worked his way up through the corporate management ranks, and in 1990, at the age of 40, he founded his own company, Excel Mining Systems, which makes roof support for underground coal mines. Cassidy picked up golf at age 35, mostly because it was the game of choice among fellow executives. (He still plays, and estimates he has a 14 handicap.)

Cassidy moved with his wife, Cindy, to the Sarasota Polo Club in Lakewood Ranch in 2006. That year he became a member of The Concession, which Golf Digest had just named its Best New Private Course. In 2008, he purchased a stake and a year later assumed the majority interest. The new owner immediately set his sights on hosting golf events. In 2015, The Concession was the site for both the men’s and women’s NCAA championships. Other tournaments followed.

Then in 2021, a coup. The prestigious WGC Championship was scheduled for late February in Mexico City, but Covid forced a venue change. The Concession stepped up, and in six weeks Cassidy’s team had the facility manicured and ready. The 72-player field included most of the top pros in the world — bold-faced names like Scheffler, McIlroy, Koepka, Day, DeChambeau, Rose and Morikawa, who won by three strokes.

Big names

The Concession has a unique characteristic among Florida golf courses, one that makes it attractive to tournament organizers: It’s not built into a neighborhood. “That’s what I think sold me on the course,” Cassidy says. “It felt like we were playing each hole by ourselves. There are no houses. Most people don’t believe they’re in Florida when they play the course. No disrespect to other golf courses, but with those you see a lot of houses, a lot of white stakes, palm trees. The only palm trees on our golf course are ones native to Florida.”

He went on to describe how the 18 holes play: “It’s a second-shot course. You hit your tee shot. You’ve got room to drive the ball. But your second shot needs to be good. You want to be on the green. If you miss the green, it can be challenging to get up and down.” (As a point of reference, Morikawa shot 18-under when he won the WGC Championship.)

Who knows what kind of scores the over-50 players will put up next spring. But one thing is certain: The PGA Senior Championship is a major tournament, so most of the top players are sure to turn up — Angel Cabrera, Stewart Cink, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington, among others. And then there’s the wish list. “Phil Mickelson is 50 now,” Cassidy says. “Tiger Woods turns 50 in December. Will he play in the seniors? We certainly hope that he will.”

That, friends, is a classic example of understatement.