Golf course does nothing to get Open

The Sunshine State might have the most golf courses per capita in the country, but there's one golf trophy it has never had: A U.S. Open.

The latest issue of LINKS magazine, however, suggests The Concession Golf Club in east Manatee County could be a good place to end the drought and host an Open Championship. The Concession is ranked 10th on a list of the magazine's top 10 places “where we'd take the U.S. Open.”

The magazine writes that The Concession is “one of the best new courses in a state that has never held the Open.” The Concession, set on 520 acres, has several high-risk, high-reward holes, course officials say, which meets United States Golf Association competition standards.

An obvious drawback to the selection is the Open is played in June, when the average daily temperature in Manatee County is more than 80 degrees. Course officials, however, boast about the subterranean wireless climate control system under the course that delivers the fast greens the USGA seeks for Open Championships.

Golf Digest named The Concession the best new private course in the United States in 2006 and the No. 5 course in Florida in 2007. Retired steel executive and The Concession resident Bruce Cassidy bought a majority control of the course and the recently built $20 million clubhouse and dining facility late last year.

LINKS magazine lists one other Florida course, TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, as a potential U.S. Open site.