Bethpage Black’s next major? It’s coming sooner than expected

The PGA of America is still a week away from hosting the first Ryder Cup in Bethpage history, but both sides have already signed up for more.

On Wednesday morning, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and the PGA of America announced that the state of New York would host two additional PGA Championships in the 2030s, in 2033 at Bethpage Black and in 2035 at Oak Hill. The decision brings back the PGA Championship to Bethpage for the second time in recent history, continuing a relationship between the governing body and the stewards of New York’s most famous municipal golf course. As part of the agreement, Bethpage will also host the 2028 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

“The Black Course tested the strongest field in golf in 2019, delivering a memorable PGA Championship and promises to do so again in 2033,” Don Rea, the PGA of America president said in a release. “These three Championships will add to our association’s extensive history in the state of New York, and we cannot wait to see the world’s best players compete on Long Island and in Rochester.”

The news quiets some whispers locally about the future of Bethpage Black as a major championship venue, which did not have another big-time golf event on the calendar following next week’s Ryder Cup. Bethpage’s Black Course, a Depression-era A.W. Tillinghast design with a vaunted history as a public-access major championship brute, has earned plaudits from golf diehards as a major host, but has existed somewhere in the realm between “U.S. Open test” and “PGA Championship mainstay.”

The course has hosted a PGA Championship and two U.S. Opens since the turn of the century, and next week will host its first-ever Ryder Cup. Those tournaments have generally been lauded as successes, with Bethpage’s municipal roots setting the stage for packed crowds of rabid New Yorkers and its proximity to the city opening the checkbooks for major corporate hospitality and sponsorship buildouts.

The Black Course presents a few layers of appeal to a governing body like the PGA of America. For one thing, the PGA generates larger revenues from tournaments held in major metropolitan areas, where it can attract more substantial hospitality options. For another, Bethpage’s roots as the so-called “People’s Country Club” imbue no shortage of ticket demand among the New York faithful — as evidenced by the PGA of America’s highly criticized decision to charge a $750 entry price for the Ryder Cup.

The PGA of America’s decision brings a major championship to four New York venues in the next decade, with Oak Hill and Bethpage serving in addition to U.S. Open hosts Winged Foot and Shinnecock Hills.

For Bethpage, the decision adds fuel to two years of excitement leading into next week’s Ryder Cup, where the “People’s Country Club” will once again count the very best in the world among its guests.

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