The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews has rejected claims made by Donald Trump that governing body is looking to take the Open Championship back to the Trump-owned Turnberry course in Scotland.
After the Thursday pro-am at LIV Golf’s teams finale outside Miami, former President Trump told reporters “the Open wants to come back” to the 116-year-old Scottish course he has owned since 2014. Turnberry is among 10 courses on the Open rota used by the R&A, which organizes the championship. But after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, the R&A said it was not going to take the championship back to Turnberry for the foreseeable future.
Despite this, Trump told reporters, “I can tell you they want to come back. I think [the ongoing feud between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour] will have to be sorted out first. We did a big surgery [redesign] on Turnberry and it has gotten great reviews, even from people who hate me. They [the R&A] want The Open to go back.”
On Friday, when contacted by reporters, a spokesperson from the R&A told media, “There is no change to our position on this.”
The R&A’s statement shortly after 2021 Capitol attacks read, “we had no plans to stage any of our championships at Turnberry and will not do so in the foreseeable future. We will not return until we are convinced that the focus will be on the championship, the players and the course itself and we do not believe that is achievable in the current circumstances.’’
Turnberry, located in Ayrshire, Scotland, has hosted four Opens: 1977, won by Tom Watson, as well as 1986, won by now LIV CEO Greg Norman, 1994 (Nick Price), and 2009 (Stewart Cink). The 2009 edition was special because Cink famously defeated a then 59-year-old Watson in a playoff.
Trump bought the resort in 2014 and has spent hundreds of millions of dollars renovating the hotel and redesigning the course. The renovation was done by Martin Ebert in 2016.
In the meantime, Trump properties have played host to two LIV events among its eight-event inaugural series – at Bedminster in N.J. in July and this week’s teams finale at Trump National Doral. LIV Golf is financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Doral’s Blue Monster course hosted a PGA Tour event from 1962 to 2016 won by the likes of Norman, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. The tour left Trump’s Doral property in 2017 for a new venue and sponsor in Mexico.
