Jack Nicklaus, Tony Jacklin golf course born from a Ryder Cup moment
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Tony Jacklin will tell you, "It was Jack." Jack Nicklaus said, "I'm sure it was Tony."
Whoever decided the course the two World Golf Hall of Fame members co-designed in Bradenton 20 years ago should be named, "The Concession," it certainly does not matter now.
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Not with the property, and the name, accomplishing its goal of recognizing and honoring a gesture that is the gold standard of good sportsmanship.
And it all started with a photograph.
Jacklin, the then-25-year-old Brit, wearing a light blue sweater, has his left arm draped over the shoulder and around the slightly taller Nicklaus. Jacklin is holding a putter in his left hand.
Nicklaus, then 29, with the red U.S. sweater and flowing blonde hair, has his arm around Jacklin, his right hand resting on his shoulder.
Both men have a slight smile, understanding in the moment and what it meant when Nicklaus conceded a 2- to 3-foot putt in the 1969 Ryder Cup that, if Jacklin missed, would have meant an outright victory for the Americans.
But the tie, the first in Ryder Cup history, allowed the U.S. to retain the Cup.
And that was good enough for Jack.
"I thought the spirit of the Ryder Cup was goodwill, camaraderie, building friendships across the pond and doing it the right way," Nicklaus once told The Palm Beach Post. "And I thought that was the right way to do it."
That moment has been honored through the years as the ultimate act of sportsmanship, becoming the catalyst for the Nicklaus-Jacklin Award, which recognizes a Ryder Cup player who exemplifies sportsmanship, teamwork and integrity.
And a golf course.
It was the early 2000s when Jacklin, living in Bradenton, took the photo to a developer and said, "What about building a course as a memorial? I don't know if it's ever been done and it would be a nice thing to do," Jacklin recently told The Palm Beach Post.
"And then he turned to me and says 'Let's have a look at this idea.' "
That look turned into a concept. And then reality.
Jacklin went to Nicklaus, proposed a co-design and in 2006 The Concession Golf Club was unveiled west of I-75 in Bradenton, on the Manatee and Sarasota county line.
The Concession will host the Senior PGA Championship for the next three years, the first starting April 16. The par 72 will play 7,152 yards for the elite of the 50-and-older tour. The tournament, hosted by the PGA of America, will be played for the 86th year, the oldest of the five major championships in men's senior golf.
This is the first time the Senior PGA Championship will be played in Florida since it was held at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens from 1982-2000.
"It's a tough golf course. It's a very challenging golf course," said Nicklaus, who lives in North Palm Beach. "They wanted a championship golf course. They wanted something that was going to be challenging."
Tony Jacklin's inspiration for The Concession depicted in photo
Jacklin, 81, and Nicklaus, 86, were friends before that 1969 Ryder Cup that allowed the U.S. to continue its dominance against a team that had yet to include players from all of continental Europe.
The U.S. retained the Cup in 1969 for the sixth straight year and 13th time in 14 years.
Jacklin was the best player on either side that year, going 4-0-2. He played Nicklaus twice in singles on the final day, winning the morning match 4 and 3.
"I beat him quite comfortably in the morning," Jacklin said. "He wasn't on the top of his game. It was as simple as that, but everybody knows match play. It's all about, you know, up and down. Nothing's straightforward when it comes to match play."
Jacklin, who was born in England, was one of the pioneers when it came to taking his talents to Palm Beach County. He and his wife, Astrid, moved to the area in 1993 — long before it became the preferred destination for so many PGA Tour professionals. Before finding a place to settle, they moved in with Jack and Barbara Nicklaus for about a month.
When Jacklin joined the senior tour in 1994, he struck a deal to represent PGA National, which is where he and Astrid established their permanent residence. At least until they moved to Bradenton in 1999.
Jacklin is a member of Nicklaus' Captains Club at the Memorial Tournament that Nicklaus founded and hosts in Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. The club is an elite, independent group of international golf ambassadors.
"I see Tony a lot," Nicklaus said. "Tony and I have been good friends for a long time."
So Jacklin knew he had to make one call when he was "burned out" playing senior golf — his only Tour Champions wins were in 1994 and 1995 — and came up with the idea to build a golf course.
That led to driving across the state and meeting with Nicklaus.
"I told him what I'd thought, we could build this golf course together and it would memorialize the moment," Jacklin said. "We said, 'Let's go and try and find some land.' "
Jacklin found the land through a member at Bradenton Country Club, where he still lives.
"He insisted that it was a collaboration," Jacklin said. "It was a Nicklaus Design in association with me. I would have had no problem taking a back seat with his design, but he actually insisted, to his eternal credit, that, no, let's just do it together."
The project was finished in 2006, although the clubhouse was not completed for about another three years.
Golf Digest named Concession its “Best New Private Course” in 2006 and it has been consistently among its top 10 Florida courses, including No. 5 in its latest ranking.
Concession has hosted one official PGA Tour event, the 2021 WGC-Workday Championship won by Collin Morikawa, a tournament that was relocated from Mexico City because of COVID.
In 2023, Concession held the inaugural World Champions Cup, a senior stroke play golf tournament featuring teams from the USA, Europe and an International team.
Paul Azinger, the lead analyst for the senior tour's broadcast team, was among Concession’s original members.
“It’s great for the area,” the 66-year-old Azinger said. “We’re going to have an economic boom, and this golf tournament is going to be a big reason why."
Jack Nicklaus believes Concession greens could be challenging for seniors
Jacklin no longer plays much golf, but he takes pride in his role as an ambassador for the club. He lives about a 45-minute drive from the course.
But he does remember his best round at Concession. He says it was about 20 years ago when he shot a 1-under 71 from the tips.
"I was hitting four irons and woods into par 4s," he said. "After I did that, I said, 'that's it. That's as good as I'm ever going to do.'"
Jacklin never played from the tips again.
Nicklaus, who enjoys designing challenging golf courses, can foresee what's going to happen when the seniors step onto the course.
"The guys will complain a lot about the greens," he joked, before getting serious.
"Actually, it depends really on the speed they get them. If the greens are not lightning fast, they won't be bad. But if they get really lightning fast, they won't. But they, of course, can get tough."
Nicklaus talking about putting at The Concession is fitting considering it was borne out of a putt that never was hit.
One that made a major impression on Jacklin and in a way helped shape part of his life.
"As he picked his ball out of the hole, he picked my marker up," Jacklin recalls of that day more than 56 years ago at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. "I was shocked and obviously, mixed emotions. Shock would be the first one and then gratitude. I was thankful that I didn't have to make it in those circumstances.
"And he said at the time, 'I don't believe you would have missed it, but I would never give you the opportunity in these circumstances.' People who knew golf continued to make reference to the '69 match because it was a sort of watershed year."
Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: The Concession golf course has a unique Ryder Cup origin