St. Louis' Bellerive Lands '13 Senior PGA Championship, '18 PGA Championship

The PGA of America on Friday announced that it has selected Bellerive Country Club of St. Louis to host both the '13 Senior PGA Championship and the '18 PGA Championship (PGA of America). In St. Louis, Dan O'Neill noted the 74th Senior PGA Championship "will take place May 21-26, 2013 at Bellerive, while the 2018 PGA at the club will be the historic 100th playing of the championship." PGA of America CEO Joe Steranka said that the organization "has been in conversations with Bellerive off and on over six years." O'Neill noted baseball "played a role in finalizing the relationship." Steranka was "most impressed with the way the city embraced and embellished" the '09 MLB All-Star Game at Busch Stadium, "turning it into a summer-long celebration and community enrichment vehicle." At the same time, "knowing how important opening day is in St. Louis, Steranka was blown away when 30 area leaders from both the private and public sectors skipped the festivities at Busch Stadium on March 31 to instead meet with Steranka at Bellerive and push the marriage" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 5/7).