Trump's Turnberry faces hurdles for Open return

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland -- President Donald Trump is not getting an Open Championship to the Turnberry people helium owns successful the adjacent future, an contented the R&A's caller main enforcement said Wednesday was much astir proscription than politics.

Turnberry is regarded arsenic the astir beauteous of the links connected the Open rotation, acceptable on the Ayrshire seashore successful Scotland crossed from the Ailsa Craig. It past hosted the Open successful 2009, earlier Trump bought the resort.

Mark Darbon, who took implicit astatine the R&A this twelvemonth from Martin Slumbers, said Turnberry had not been taken disconnected the database of imaginable Open sites, but proscription and different issues had to beryllium addressed.

"I deliberation we've been highly wide connected our presumption successful respect of Turnberry. We emotion the play people but we've got immoderate large logistical challenges there," helium said. "You spot the standard of their setup present and we've got immoderate enactment to bash connected the road, obstruction and accommodation infrastructure astir Turnberry."

Darbon said the R&A met with Eric Trump and different leaders of Trump Golf a fewer months agone and the talks had been constructive.

"I deliberation they recognize intelligibly wherever we're coming from. We talked done immoderate of the challenges that we person truthful we've got a bully dialog with them," helium said.

Slumbers had antecedently said the R&A would not beryllium going to Turnberry until it was comfy the taxable would beryllium astir play and not the owner.

Turnberry has lone hosted the Open Championship 4 times, archetypal successful 1977 with the celebrated "Duel successful the Sun" erstwhile Tom Watson bushed Jack Nicklaus. But the Open is getting bigger, and the roads are constricted getting to Turnberry.

There has been speculation Trump, whose play courses person ne'er hosted a men's major, mightiness inquire the British authorities to intercede successful getting the Open backmost to Turnberry.

"We person an ongoing dialog with the UK authorities fixed that we're a large lawsuit that creates important worth into the UK economy," Darbon said. "We've spoken to them specifically astir Turnberry and I deliberation they've made it wide that the determination astir wherever we instrumentality our title rests with us.

"I would find it hard to foretell whether determination volition beryllium immoderate treatment connected the Open if the President is making a sojourn here."

Turnberry is not the lone Scottish links being ignored by the R&A. Muirfield, located on the Firth of Forth eastbound of Edinburgh, is reputed to beryllium the purest of links courses. Its archetypal Open was successful 1892, and determination person been 15 others, astir precocious successful 2013 won by Phil Mickelson.

Only St. Andrews has hosted much Opens than Muirfield.

But it has not been backmost determination since 2013 arsenic the R&A has been geared toward taking golf's oldest title to courses that tin clasp large crowds. It is expected 278,000 spectators volition beryllium astatine Royal Portrush this week, the second-largest down St. Andrews. The past Open astatine Muirfield had 142,000 spectators.

The Open volition beryllium astatine Royal Birkdale adjacent year, and past St. Andrews successful 2027. The tract for 2028 has not been announced. Muirfield has ne'er gone much than 11 years -- but for interruptions from World War I and World War II -- betwixt Opens.

"We emotion the play people astatine Muirfield. We're successful a treatment with the venue close now," Darbon said. "There's immoderate things that we request to germinate astatine Muirfield -- the signifier crushed successful peculiar is simply a situation for america with a modern Open and there's immoderate enactment we request to bash with the venue to facilitate immoderate of the infrastructure that we require.

"But it's a bully dialog and we'd emotion to beryllium backmost determination successful the future."