Is Trump Turnberry back in consideration to host a British Open?
Maybe.
When in 2014 Donald Trump purchased Turnberry, the legendary Scottish golf course where Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus staged their famous “Duel in the Sun” in the 1977 British Open, the course was very much in the rotation to host future British Opens. It hosted the event in 1986, ’94 and 2009, and was the frontrunner to host again in 2020. But then Trump announced his candidacy for president, became a political lightning rod, and everything changed.
The R&A, which manages the British Open, reportedly decided privately back in 2015 to remove Turnberry from consideration. Then, in 2021, R&A chairman Martin Slumbers went public.
“We had no plans to stage any of our championships at Turnberry and will not do so in the foreseeable future,” he said via a statement on Jan. 11, 2021, in the wake of the riot at the U.S. Capitol. “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.”
Four years ago, sports and politics were very much intertwined, with leadership across the sporting landscape embracing the relationship. They did so via messaging on courts and fields and uniforms, even by stripping events or games from certain locations because of political reasons.
Fast forward to 2025, and things are different. Yes, the political climate remains just as heated, and certain athletes remain vocal in their political criticism. But no longer does it seem leaders of various sporting leagues and events want to be intertwined with politics. The NFL and NBA are no longer plastering social justice messages on their respective fields and courts of play. Major League Baseball just held its All-Star Game in Atlanta, from which it stripped the game just four years ago because of politics. In returning the game to Atlanta, MLB said nary a word about why it changed its mind. And Wednesday, the new head of the R&A said Turnberry is not out of consideration to host a future British Open.
“I think we’ve been extremely clear on our position in respect of Turnberry,” said Mark Darbon, who took over as chief executive for the R&A a year ago. “We love the golf course but we’ve got some big logistical challenges there. 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.”
Citing logistics could be another way of sidestepping the political lightning rod that President Trump remains, but Darbon did acknowledge he’s had discussions with Eric Trump, the president’s son who is part of the leadership group in Trump’s golf course organization, about what needs to be done to get Turnberry ready to host an Open.
“I met a couple of months ago with Eric Trump and some of the leadership from the Trump golf organization and from Turnberry,” Darbon said. “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.”
With the next two events already scheduled for Royal Birkdale and St. Andrews, the next open date to host a British Open would be 2028. That year’s event will pose a timing challenge as the Summer Olympics are scheduled to run from July 14-30, meaning the British Open’s normal slot in mid-July will have to be moved.
Darbon said Wednesday he expects to announce the host of the 2028 British Open “before the middle of next year.”
Could it be Trump Turnberry?
“We’ll continue to assess the feasibility and work collaboratively not just with the venue but with local and national government to understand what may be possible, and that process at Turnberry is no different to any of our other locations,” Darbon said.
