Trump’s Turnberry faces logistical hurdles for British Open return

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland (AP) – President Donald Trump is not getting a British Open to the Turnberry course he owns in the near future, an issue the R&A’s new chief executive said Wednesday was more about transportation than politics.

Turnberry is regarded as the most beautiful of the links on the Open rotation, set along the Ayrshire coast in Scotland across from the Ailsa Craig. It last hosted the Open in 2009, before Trump bought the resort.

Mark Darbon, who took over at the R&A this year from Martin Slumbers, said Turnberry had not been taken off the list of potential British Open sites, but transportation and other issues had to be addressed.

“I think we’ve been extremely clear on our position in respect of Turnberry. We love the golf course but we’ve got some big logistical challenges there,” he said. “You see the scale of their setup here and we’ve got some work to do on the road, rail and accommodation infrastructure around Turnberry.”

Darbon said the R&A met with Eric Trump and other leaders of Trump Golf a few months ago and the talks had been constructive.

“I think they understand clearly where we’re coming from. We talked through some of the challenges that we have so we’ve got a good dialogue with them,” he said.

Slumbers had previously said the R&A would not be going to Turnberry until it was comfortable the topic would be about golf and not the owner.

Turnberry has only hosted the British Open four times, first in 1977 with the famous “Duel in the Sun” when Tom Watson beat Jack Nicklaus. But the Open is getting bigger, and the roads are limited getting to Turnberry.

There has been speculation Trump, whose golf courses have never hosted a men’s major, might ask the British government to intercede in getting the Open back to Turnberry.

“We have an ongoing dialogue with the UK government given that we’re a major event that creates significant value into the UK economy,” Darbon said. “We’ve spoken to them specifically about Turnberry and I think they’ve made it clear that the decision around where we take our championship rests with us.

“I would find it difficult to predict whether there will be any discussion on The Open if the President is making a visit here.”

Turnberry is not the only Scottish links being ignored by the R&A. Muirfield, located along the Firth of Forth east of Edinburgh, is reputed to be the purest of links courses. Its first Open was in 1892, and there have been 15 others, most recently in 2013 won by Phil Mickelson.

Only St. Andrews has hosted more Opens than Muirfield.

But it has not been back there since 2013 as the R&A has been geared toward taking golf’s oldest championship to courses that can hold big crowds. It is expected 278,000 spectators will be at Royal Portrush this week, the second-largest behind St. Andrews. The last Open at Muirfield had 142,000 spectators.

The Open will be at Royal Birkdale next year, and then St. Andrews in 2027. The site for 2028 has not been announced. Muirfield has never gone more than 11 years – except for interruptions from World War I and World War II – between Opens.

“We love the golf course at Muirfield. We’re in a discussion with the venue right now,” Darbon said. “There’s some things that we need to evolve at Muirfield – the practice ground in particular is a challenge for us with a modern Open and there’s some work we need to do with the venue to facilitate some of the infrastructure that we require.

“But it’s a good dialogue and we’d love to be back there in the future.”