WGC-Mexico forced to move to Florida for 2021 staging
At first it was a tip from a Tour insider, then a leaked PGA Tour memo but now the Tour has confirmed what we learned back on January 7th and that is confirmation that the WGC – Mexico Championship is being moved from Mexico City to Florida next month.
The Concession Golf Club has been handed the hosting honours due to COVID-19 fears in taking the limited field back to Mexico.
Patrick Reed won the 2020 WGC-Mexico (Credit: PGA Tour)
When Cadillac’s sponsorship deal to host to WGC at Trump Doral expired with the March 2016 event the Tour had needed to find a replacement sponsor and so Mexican-based Grupo Salinas, which includes TV Azteca and retailer Grupo Elektra, stepped in and moved the tournament south of the border.
“The PGA TOUR is grateful for its continued partnership with Grupo Salinas as we navigate the unique challenges created by the pandemic,” said Ty Votaw, PGA Tour Executive Vice President, International.
“While we work toward returning to Mexico in 2022, we are appreciative of the collective effort to bring this event to a worthy venue in The Concession Golf Club, which is renowned as one of the top courses in the state of Florida.”
Given the one-year relocation from Mexico City, the Tour is working to secure a title sponsor for the 2021 event and with suggestions the event may not return to Mexico.
The relocated 2021 event will now herald the start of the PGA Tour’s ‘Florida Swing’.
Co-designed by Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin, the private membership Concession Club was opened in 2006 and named in honour of the 1969 Ryder Cup, where Nicklaus conceded a short putt to Jacklin for the duo to halve the final Sunday Singles match and also have the biennial encounter as 16 points apiece at Royal Birkdale.
The World Golf Championships will be the second of back-to-back weeks of professional golf in the Bradenton-Sarasota area with the Korn Ferry Tour’s LECOM Suncoast Classic to be played the week prior across the street at Lakewood National Golf Club.
