Laura Finaldi, Sarasota Herald-Tribune USA TODAY NETWORK – 2-12-2021
LAKEWOOD RANCH – Since its inception, Lakewood Ranch, with its premier golf courses, out-of-this world mansions, cute shops and perfectly crafted, insulated villages, has been an idyllic place to live for those who can afford it.
But from a tourism standpoint, it hasn’t always been clear where this booming master-planned community fits as a place to bring visitors to the area.
“We’ve been looking regionally at how we can bring tourism awareness to east county, specifically Lakewood Ranch,” Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said. “It’s a 35,000-acre master-planned development, No. 1 in the country – how do we showcase that?”
Sarasota-Manatee has a major opportunity to showcase Lakewood Ranch – specifically, The Concession Golf Club – later this month, when the award-winning course will host the 2021 PGA Tour World Golf Championships- Mexico Championship Feb. 25-28. The PGA Tour held a preview event at The Concession on Thursday to discuss the coming event with local stakeholders and the media.
It’s not just about showcasing all Lakewood Ranch has to offer. The 72hole stroke-play competition will be broadcast on the Golf Channel and NBC Sports to as many as 800 million households worldwide. Those broadcasts will include footage of the area’s beaches and other amenities cut in with the tournament and shots of The Concession itself.
“It’s going to be a tremendous contrast between the white sand and green grass here,” Paul Azinger of NBC Sports said of broadcasting the event. “There’s a lot of nice edges in the bunkers, and NBC’s definitely going to bring the airplane in for this event so there will be a lot of aerials of the golf course. It’s a beautiful sight from the sky.”
The major tourism value of the event will be exposure, Falcione said. It won’t be open to the public because of COVID restrictions, so it’s not like thousands of people are going to fly here to attend, even though in a normal year the Mexico Championship would attract something like 30,000 to 50,000 spectators, he said.
“The value is the TV awareness globally; 800 million households with a viewership demographic that aligns with our market,” Falcione said. “So it’s going to create intrigue, it’s going to create pent-up demand that ‘I’ve got to come to this area. Gosh, I wish I could play at this course,’ and other courses on the fringe will benefit as well. That’s the big value.”
And there’s strong evidence that once people come to the Sarasota-Manatee area, they come back time and time again and in many cases end up buying property here.
With nine different golf communities, Lakewood Ranch is a strong choice for people who want to live close to where they golf, Laura Cole, senior vice president of Lakewood Ranch, said.
“Some of these recreational assets we created originally for residents and for the community have grown in scale to start attracting destination travel,” Cole said.
Still, there will be people traveling here to attend – including a minimum of 72 players and some of their families, television broadcasting staff, about 20-25 tour staff and about 40-50 members of the national golf media, Michael Baliker, a spokesman for the PGA Tour, said.
Shelby Connett, director of sports for Visit Sarasota County, said that the majority of players will likely stay in vacation rental homes, and that there’s a block in downtown Sarasota for them. The media and other staff attending will likely be staying at University Parkwayarea hotels.
This event, which in the past has attracted the likes of Tiger Woods, Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson, will come a week after the LECOM Suncoast Classic golf tournament at the nearby Lakewood National Golf Club. The Concession itself has hosted NCAA golf tournaments in the past, and club president Bruce Cassidy said they’ve been on the lookout for more major events.
There’s been growing interest in golf since the start of the COVID-19 pandem-ic, Virginia Haley, president of Visit Sarasota County, said, and that’s a natural evolution given Sarasota’s history. The city’s first mayor, John Hamilton Gillespie, built two practice holes in what is now downtown Sarasota in the 1880s, before it was even a platted community, she said. “He had a firm belief that tourism in Sarasota and Bradenton would be tied to the promotion of golf,” Haley said. “So you look now, we have probably 70 golf courses in our region, this being the jewel, but I feel like today we have realized Mayor Gillespie, Florida’s golfing mayor, his dream for our region, and this is going to definitely put us on a map as a golf destination worldwide.”
The part of Mexico City where the Mexico Championship has been held for the past four years could not issue a permit this year because of the COVID situation, Ty Votaw, executive vice president of international for the PGA Tour, said. The question of where these events can happen during the pandemic depends on the “circumstances” of COVID in each state, he said.
It’s no secret that Florida has sought to attract major events and tourism during the pandemic. Walt Disney World is open with COVID precautions, for example, but Disneyland Resort in California is still closed. Gov. Ron DeSantis even volunteered the state as a potential site for the Republican National Convention until it became clear that it wouldn’t be possible to pull off an event like that safely.
Votaw said the PGA Tour is committed to a safe event in line with public health restrictions. Only about 1,000 people will be able to attend per day.
“It’s the three W’s: Wear a mask, watch your distance and wash your hands,” he said. “Every fan will be expected to adhere to those requirements while they’re – obviously if you’re drinking a beer, eating a sandwich you’re not going to have a mask on, but we would ask if you do that do it away from the rope line, players, et cetera.”
The PGA Tour is going to be on a Florida swing starting with the Mexico Championships. In March, the organization will host the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, The PLAYERS Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach and The Honda Classic in Palm Beach County. The Valspar Championship will take place in Palm Harbor from April 26 to May 2.
“Our players are comfortable in returning to golf and the fact that they’re able to come from Los Angeles the week before to four straight weeks in Florida enabled us to make this happen,” he said.
