In April, senior Whitehall officials reportedly asked golf authorities, aka R&A bosses, if they could host the 2028 Open Championship at Donald Trump’s Turnberry course, following repeated requests from the U.S. President. At that time, one source close to him stated, “One concrete thing is that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport [DCMS] have been involved in pushing for the Open to return to Trump-owned Turnberry.” However, as per recent reports, President Donald Trump will have to wait a little more, following R&A’s latest announcement.
“We love the golf course but we’ve got some big logistical challenges there,” said Mark Darbon, the R&A’s new chief executive, on Wednesday at Royal Portrush for The Open Championship 2025. “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.”
The Ailsa Course at Turnberry has hosted the Open Championship four times, with the most recent being in 2009 when Stewart Cink beat Tom Watson in a playoff. Since President Trump purchased the course for approximately $60 million in April 2014, it hasn’t hosted the tournament.
Though Turnberry and Muirfield are currently facing challenges that make them less likely to host the Open Championship in the near future, Portmarnock in Ireland is being strongly considered as a potential new host venue for 2028, with feasibility work underway to determine its suitability. Although no such confirmations have emerged yet. For the next two years, however, Birkdale will host The Open Championship in 2026 and St Andrews in 2027.
This is a developing story…
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