World Golfing Championship shifting from Mexico to Florida

The Entire world Golfing Championship is transferring from Mexico Town to the Gulf Coast of Florida this calendar year, a change driven by the COVID-19 pandemic that has set restrictions on journey and held away spectators.

The PGA Tour sent a memo to gamers Friday informing them of the relocation for Feb. 25-28. It will be played at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, co-designed by Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin.

Even now to be determined is the title sponsor for this year’s function at The Concession, which began in 1999 with a historical past of going all around the planet. The Concession will be its ninth location.

The tour mentioned it strategies to return to Mexico Town in 2022.

Alongside with vacation getting limited in between the United Point out and Mexico, not having spectators has seriously slash into revenues for running events and brought about each individual tournament to get inventive in trying to elevate dollars for its neighborhood charities, which generally are funded by the net proceeds.

The tour signed an settlement with Grupo Salinas, which counts Television Azteca among the its quite a few enterprises, right after the WGC event at been at Doral considering that 2007.

The WGC-Mexico Championship presented superior-finish lodges and protection to and from Chapultepec Golfing Club, and the match captivated a strong industry. Dustin Johnson won in 2017 and 2018, when Phil Mickelson beat Justin Thomas in a playoff in 2018 and Patrick Reed gained past 12 months.

The tournament started at Valderrama in 1999 and 2000, and at first it was alternating concerning the U.S. and Europe.

Earlier American sites had been Bellerive (canceled by the Sept. 11 terrorist assaults in 2001), Capital Metropolis Club north of Atlanta (2003) and Harding Park (2005) right before a long-lasting spot in Florida at Doral. The tour was browsing for a new sponsor when Mexico stepped in.

In Europe, the WGC it was held in Spain (Valderrama), Ireland (Mt. Juliet) and England (The Grove).

Tiger Woods won the championship six situations, on just about every program it was performed except for Mexico, which he played only as soon as.

The Concession Club was named soon after the famed Ryder Cup second in 1969 when Nicklaus conceded a limited par putt to Jacklin for the matches to stop in a tie (the U.S. retained the trophy). It previously hosted the NCAA championships in 2015.

The WGC will be the 1st of 4 straight tournaments in Florida.