The China Mail - British Open could return to Trump's Turnberry

The Scottish course, which was bought by Trump in 2014, has not hosted the only major outside the US since 2012.

In the wake of the storming of the US Capitol by Trump supporters in January 2021, the R&A said the British Open would not return to Turnberry until "the focus will be on the championship" rather than the course's proprietor.

Mark Darbon, new chief executive of the R&A, straight-batted the prospect of awarding Turnberry the championship until significant upgrades are made around the course on Scotland's west coast.

"We love the golf course but we've got some big logistical challenges there," Darbon told a press conference ahead of the 153rd British Open, which begins at Royal Portrush on Thursday.

"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.

"We've explicitly not taken it out of our pool of venues but we'd need to address those logistical challenges should we return."

Darbon revealed he had a meeting earlier in the year with Trump's son, Eric, but said no pressure had been put on by the British government to fast track Turnberry's return to the Open Championship rotation.

"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," he added on government involvement.

"I met a couple of months ago with Eric Trump and some of the leadership from the Trump golf organisation and from Turnberry. We had a really good discussion.

"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."

A return to Turnberry is highly unlikely before Trump's second term as president comes to an end in early 2029.

The next two British Opens will be held at Birkdale and St. Andrews respectively, with a venue for 2028 to be confirmed early next year.

There could also be an addition to the current rota of 10 venues with the possibility the British Open could be played in the Republic of Ireland for the first time at Portmarnock, near Dublin.

"Yes, we are thinking about Portmarnock," added Darbon.

"We think it's a wonderful links golf course and we've been really encouraged by the support that we've had in principle from the Irish government to work with us to understand whether we could stage an Open Championship there in the future.

"We're knee deep in feasibility work to help us answer that question fully. We expect to have a clearer picture by the back end of this year."

W.Tam--ThChM