Michigan held the Senior PGA Championship for over a decade – until the sponsor pulled out and took the whole thing with them.
Florida didn't wait for a corporation to hand it something.
DeSantis went and got it back, locked it in for three years, and put 70 million dollars into the Sarasota-Bradenton economy starting today.
What Michigan Lost and Why It Matters
The Senior PGA Championship left Florida in 2001.
It bounced around – New Jersey, Kentucky, Michigan – until Whirlpool Corporation's KitchenAid brand decided Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor would be its permanent home.
From 2012 to 2024, Michigan hosted it six times.
Then Whirlpool pulled the plug.
In February 2024, the company announced the partnership was over – no renewal, no transition, just done.
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That's what happens when your economic model depends on a single corporation staying interested.
Florida's model is different.
Manatee and Sarasota counties committed nine million dollars over three years to land this event – not a trial run, a three-year deal locked in through 2028 with the PGA of America.
When Whirlpool stopped writing checks, Michigan lost a major.
When DeSantis went to work, Florida secured one for three consecutive years.
The Field That Brings 1990s Golf Back to Life
Golf's oldest senior major dates to 1937 at Augusta National, and the 156-player field at The Concession this week reads like a reunion of everyone who made the sport worth watching.
Twenty-one major champions. Seven World Golf Hall of Fame members. Ten former Ryder Cup captains.
Ernie Els. Vijay Singh. Bernhard Langer. Retief Goosen. Padraig Harrington. Stewart Cink. Henrik Stenson. John Daly.
These are the players your dad stayed up late to watch win majors in their prime.
DeSantis called them "many famous names from the nineties and two-thousands" – and he was right to frame it exactly that way.
This audience didn't fly into Sarasota-Bradenton to see a corporate activation or a celebrity influencer.
They came because golf used to mean something, and this week in Bradenton it does again.
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Coverage on Golf Channel reaches 500 million households across 130 countries.
That's Florida's name on screens from Tokyo to London for four straight days.
The Venue Built on the Greatest Moment in Ryder Cup History
The Concession Golf Club opened in 2006, designed by Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin.
The name comes from the 1969 Ryder Cup, where Nicklaus walked across the 18th green and conceded a short putt to Jacklin on the final hole – a gesture that produced the first tie in the tournament's history.
He didn't have to do it.
He did it because it was right.
Golf Digest named the club the best new private course in America the year it opened, and it's been ranked among Florida's top ten courses ever since.
Michigan built its model around a kitchen appliance company and lost everything when that company lost interest.
DeSantis built his around private investment, county commitments, and a venue strong enough that the PGA of America signed a three-year agreement on the spot.
There's a reason golf's oldest senior major is in Bradenton this week and not Benton Harbor.
It's called having a governor who knows how to close a deal.
Sources:
- CiberCuba Editorial Team, "DeSantis promotes golf event in Florida after more than two decades without major tournaments," CiberCuba, April 15, 2026.
- Pro Golf Weekly, "2026 Senior PGA Championship Primer: History, TV, Field, Odds," Pro Golf Weekly, April 14, 2026.
- WSJM News, "Whirlpool Corp. says 2024 will be last Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores," WSJM, February 2024.
- Top 100 Golf Courses, "Senior PGA Championship History," Top100GolfCourses.com.
