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2021 WGC-Workday Championship: Top 10 power rankings at The Concession

By Mike Randleman

Mar 26, 2017; Austin, TX, USA; Jon Rahm of Spain lost to Dustin Johnson of the United States in the final round of the World Golf Classic - Dell Match Play golf tournament at Austin Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 26, 2017; Austin, TX, USA; Jon Rahm of Spain lost to Dustin Johnson of the United States in the final round of the World Golf Classic - Dell Match Play golf tournament at Austin Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports /
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Let the Florida Swing begin. For the next four weeks, golf fans will be treated to a sampler platter of tournaments the PGA Tour has to offer. We have a World Golf Championship this week, an elevated status event (Arnold Palmer Invitational) the next, followed by its flagship event Players Championship) and, for lack of an official term, a standard event (Honda Classic).

Kicking it off this week is the WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession.

The Concession is a Jack Nicklaus/Tony Franklin design in Bradenton, Florida, that opened in 2006. The name is inspired by Nicklaus’ concession of Tony Jacklin’s putt on the 18th green at the 1969 Ryder Cup. The sportsmanlike gesture resulted in the event’s first ever tie.

The course is in the top 200 in the U.S. according to Golf Digest. It was designed intentionally without houses lining the property to let the course stand out.

The Concession is a 7,500-yard par 72 course that’s rumored to be capable of playing firm and fast.

Undulating greens require players to negotiate the right section of the green to have good birdie looks.

Holes don’t run parallel to each other and are each their own distinct hole. The slope rating is a 155, the highest in the Tampa Bay Area.

Water comes in to play on about half of the holes. Bermuda grass is in play from tee to green. The rough is listed at 2 inches.

WGCs don’t tend to provide major-like conditions, but club member Paul Azinger thinks The Concession could bring some bite.

“There have been some low ones, a few 65s and 4s and stuff and maybe a 63 somewhere along the line, but I believe there will be a big gap between the winners and the guys that really play poorly,” Azinger said in a Sarasota Herald-Tribune article. “It’s the kind of a golf course that will eat your lunch.”

This is its debut hosting the world’s best pros. It welcomed plenty of great amateurs when it hosted the 2015 NCAA Division I Men’s Championship. You may have heard of the individual champion: Southern Methodist University’s Bryson DeChambeau.

This event is a World Golf Championship that was formerly at Doral in Miami from 2007-2016 before moving to Mexico City to become the WGC-Mexico Championship in 2017.

Circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic led to the 2021 event being moved to Concession. The tournament plans to return to Club de Chapultepec in 2022.

We’ve got a field of 72 players here this week. There’s no 36-hole cut.

There’s also an alternate field PGA Tour event this week at the Puerto Rico Open.

The weather forecast for the week looks benign. There’s little to no chance of rain with temperatures in the 60s-80s and moderate wind.

A good chunk of this week’s field was at the Genesis Invitational last week. While we don’t have course history to go off of, we can at least glean who’s in good form coming from the West Coast.

DeChambeau wasn’t the bomber he is now when he won here in 2015. With that said, it appears to be a place where distance is rewarded and recoveries can be made.

Every player will collect a check this week. Here are the 10 who will earn the biggest ones:

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