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Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course blacklisted by Open Championship organisers

Donald Trump - Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course blacklisted by Open Championship organisers - PA/Andrew Milligan
Donald Trump - Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course blacklisted by Open Championship organisers - PA/Andrew Milligan

Donald Trump will never realise his dream of holding the Open at his Turnberry golf resort, sources close to the R&A have suggested.

The 45th US president has been lobbying for his Ayrshire venue to be picked again, saying “everybody wants to see the Open Championship here”.

However, the R&A, which manages the world-renowned event, is understood to now flatly reject the prospect of selecting Turnberry in the near future. One source suggested Trump’s only option would be to sell up as his ownership is still perceived as a serious security risk due to potential protests.

The R&A’s robust stance prompted an immediate call for a rethink from the Trump camp on Wednesday. Trump’s son Eric, the executive vice-president of the Trump organisation, sent a statement to The Telegraph saying the family remains “deeply committed to the Open Championship whenever the call is received”.

“My family is deeply committed to Scotland and has one singular focus – preserving Turnberry as the best golf course anywhere in the world,” he said.

Eric, who is credited with helping to drive a course redesign of Trump National Doral in Miami, added: “We have invested nearly $200 million [£161 million] in the property, achieved the most prestigious accolades in the world of golf and have a course which is universally considered to be the best in the Open Championship rota.”

Trump Snr, who is seen as likely to be the Republican nominee for a potential second stint in the White House, had been talking up relations with the R&A recently.

In an interview with GB News during his last visit to the course on May 3, he said he had “spent a tremendous amount of money” redeveloping the course following advice from former chief executive of the R&A, Peter Dawson.

The course was redesigned by Martin Ebert.

Trump added: “We’re going to make a couple of little minor adjustments but it’s fantastic. Everybody wants to see the Open Championship here – the players, it’s their favourite course, it’s the No 1-rated in Europe.”

Trump will host his biggest male tournament in the UK to date in August – the PGA Seniors Championship at his links course near Aberdeen. There are also plans to host a LIV event at Doonbeg in Co Clare, perhaps next year.

This year his courses are staging three of the Saudi-funded circuit’s events, including last week in Washington DC.

The 151st Open, meanwhile, takes place this summer at Royal Liverpool from July 16.

‘He would have to sell up before anything changes’

Trump purchased Turnberry in 2014, five years after it last staged golf’s oldest major. The R&A’s chief executive, Martin Slumbers, first said in January 2021 that his organisation “had no plans to stage any of our championships at Turnberry and will not do so in the foreseeable future”.

Three years on, an R&A source told Telegraph Sport “our position remains unchanged”. The source added: “We have no plans to stage any of our championships there in the foreseeable future and will not return until we are convinced that the focus will be on the championship, the players and the course itself,” the insider added.

Another insider close to tours added: “The way it looks now, he would have to sell up before anything changes.”

Eric Trump added in his response that “we are incredibly proud of this historic icon and remain deeply committed to the Open Championship whenever the call is received”.

Trump Turnberry staff waved hats which said “Made Turnberry Great Again” as they greeted the former president three weeks’ ago, though he is still facing court action in the United States as he has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Earlier this month a civil jury found Trump to have sexually abused an advice columnist in the mid-1990s and ordered him to pay her $5 million in damages, though he was cleared of rape.

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