Callaway Collegiate Match Play awarded to Concession

Camilo Villegas was a member of the 2003 Florida team that won the title. Photo from the 2010 PGA Championship/courtesy of McClatchy-Tribune News Service.

The Callaway Collegiate Match Play Championship is coming to Manatee County.

The 2012 edition is scheduled for March 18-20 at The Concession Golf Club.

Augusta State won the first tournament back in 2002, and the annual tourney has featured future PGA Tour stars.
Dustin Johnson and Camilo Villegas are current big names on the PGA Tour that have played the tournament in the past.

Villegas was on the Florida Gators club that won the championship in 2003, the program's lone title in the event.

The University of South Florida is the host. The Concession was named Golf Digest's "Best New Private Course of 2006" according to a news release.

"We are extremely proud to partner with USF to bring an event of this stature to the Sarasota area," said Concession general manager Bruce Cassidy Jr. in the news release. "The Concession offers many risk/reward opportunities. It will be exciting to see the best Division I collegiate golfers tackle the course in match play."

Jack Nicklaus and Bradenton resident Tony Jacklin co-designed The Concession and named it after the famed Ryder Cup moment where Nicklaus conceded a nerve-wracking putt to Jacklin for the first-ever tie in the biennial match play tourney's history.

Nicklaus returned to Manatee County in March 2010 to go over proposed changes to the pristine layout.