Nelson's Noggin

Final preparations under way for The Concession to host Senior PGA Championship

The Lakewood Ranch golf club has begun its one-month countdown to the tournament.


The Concession Golf Club is hosting the Senior PGA Championship April 16-19.
The Concession Golf Club is hosting the Senior PGA Championship April 16-19.
Courtesy image
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Bunker edges will be sharpened. Hazard lines will be painted. Around tents, pine straw will be laid.

Every square foot of the grounds at The Concession Golf Club will be under a microscope in the coming month.

That's because thousands of people will soon be there to see it, with many more watching from their couches.

"Our golf course is in fantastic shape," said Brian Weimann, general manager of The Concession. "It's just focusing on the details and getting this place TV-ready."

Courses around the country and beyond undergo similar preparations for professional events. Except there's nothing standard about this event.

This is the Senior PGA Championship — the most storied and prestigious tournament on the senior men's golf circuit.

As of March 16, the one-month countdown has officially begun. It will be held at The Concession from April 16-19 as part of a three-year agreement with PGA of America which includes future hosting rights in 2027 and 2028.

It will be the first time since 2000 the tournament will be held in Florida.

Stakes are high. Pressure is on.

The Concession isn't sweating. This sprint to the first day of the Senior PGA Championship is more of a light trot for the club.

"This has been a past project of a full 12 months. We've done a lot of preparation," Weimann said. "I don't think it's a mad dash by any means. It doesn't feel like that at all."

The Concession Golf Club Majority Owner Bruce Cassidy and General Manager Brian Weimann will be the key players in the club hosting the 2026, 2027 and 2028 Senior PGA Championship.
The Concession Golf Club Majority Owner Bruce Cassidy and General Manager Brian Weimann will be the key players in the club hosting the 2026, 2027 and 2028 Senior PGA Championship.
Photo by Jay Heater

Nearly a year has passed since PGA of America announced its selection of the club May 21, 2025, to host one of its most iconic tournaments. The Concession has hosted the 2021 WGC-Workday Championship and 2024 World Champions Cup.

While the Workday Championship drew most of the world's top players, a senior Major is an elite event as well. The 2025 Senior PGA Championship was won by Ángel Cabrera, the 2009 Masters and 2007 U.S. Open champion.

That demands a massive undertaking to prepare accordingly, but making changes to the grounds was never a concern. The club prides itself on maintaining a tournament-ready course year-round.

For Bruce Cassidy Sr., majority owner of The Concession and general chair for the 2026 Senior PGA Championship, handling the masses is higher on the priority list.

"No golf course has parking to support an event like this on-site," Cassidy said. "Our situation is probably better than most, getting people to and from (the course), and in a timely manner."

Premier Sports Campus — a 4.7-mile drive northwest — will serve as the main parking site. Shuttles will transport people to and from The Concession. 

The club also knew it would be shorthanded for staffing. It plans to lean heavily on volunteer signups from the community, which based on Weimann's conversations with PGA of America, have been "awesome."

Up to 7,000 fans per day could be coming. Attendance will soar if 50-year-old Tiger Woods throws his decorated hat into the ring, though as of March 15, he remains undecided about playing the PGA Senior Championship.

"We have 300 members. We have a decently small staff," Weimann said. "So for us, it's growing the staff and growing the operation to be able to hold one of these events. That's the biggest challenge."

The view of the first hole from behind the fairway bunkers at The Concession.
The view of the first hole from behind the fairway bunkers at The Concession.
Courtesy image

Addressing those two issues has kept The Concession plenty busy.

The weeks to come will be busy, too. Weimann calls it "the build." 

Vendors began arriving March 9 to assemble tents around the grounds. They'll also put up side boxes on the 18th hole, Club PGA for VIP attendees, a volunteer village and media center.

Additionally, the club is putting the finishing touches on its expanded, 14-acre tournament event entrance. Per Weimann, that work has been ongoing for the last few months.

More volunteers are welcome. PGA of America said in a Nov. 12, 2025, press release it was searching for "over 1,000" to work the 2026 Senior PGA Championship.

Cassidy is happy to advocate for such an opportunity. He's always seen The Concession as a king among Florida golf course royalty.

"We've had a golf course here that, I believed from Day One, can host the largest event that golf has," Cassidy said. "Seeing the golf course get the recognition nationally — and globally, really, at this kind of event — that it deserves, it's pretty exciting."

This coming month is the final push. It's time to dot i's and cross t's. 

In a golf context, that's more like mowing greens and raking bunkers. Beautifying a course is the cherry on top in the lead-up to a major tournament.

Weimann and Cassidy, though, won't stress about it. They trust in the past months of preparation they've already overseen. 

"It's like your wife and your guys are ready to go out, but she hasn't got her makeup on yet," Cassidy said. "We're putting the makeup on now."

 

author

Jack Nelson

Jack Nelson is the sports reporter for the East County and Sarasota/Siesta Key Observers. As a proud UCLA graduate and Massachusetts native, Nelson also writes for NBA.com and previously worked for MassLive. His claim to fame will always be that one time he sat at the same table as LeBron James and Stephen Curry.

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