The Open at Turnberry? Trump given fresh hope of hosting major
The Open Championship organisers have raised hopes that Donald Trump’s Turnberry could come in from the cold and stage the golf major again.
Turnberry has not staged the Open since five years before the current US president’s 2014 purchase of the Ayrshire resort, amid suspicions that it has been unofficially blackballed over the Trump connection.
Organisers the R&A insist that is not the case and have begun a feasibility study to determine how Turnberry could host the sport’s oldest major again.
Among the concerns raised by chief executive Mark Darbon is whether the local infrastructure has sufficient capacity for an event that has seen spectator numbers double to almost 300,000 in 15 years.
“We’re doing some feasibility work around what it would look like to return to that venue and the investment that it would require,” said Darbon.
“A modern Open Championship is a large-scale event. What we know for sure is the golf course is brilliant, so at some point we’d love to be back there.
“We consistently work with our venues and their owners and operators to talk about what an Open Championship demands and how we work with them to bring that to life.
“The golf course is magnificent. If anything, it’s better now than it ever has been, given some of the improvements that have been made to the course.
“But there are some challenges around the road and rail network, some of the accommodation provision in the surrounding area, and so we’re working on what a model could look like for the future.”
This year’s Open is being held at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, just six years after it staged Shane Lowry’s victory.
Next year it will take place at Royal Birkdale, where Jordan Spieth won in 2017, before returning to St Andrew’s in 2027.