Senior Whitehall officials have been in discussion with the R&A over hosting the 2028 Open Championship at Donald Trump’s Turnberry course. This has sparked debate among officials and stakeholders after repeated requests from the former United States President. The R&A is the body that oversees the affairs and organisation of the Open Championship — golf’s oldest major tournament.
Trump Keen To Host Open Championship
United States President Donald Trump and Keir Starmer have been in discussion about the possibility of hosting the Open at Turnberry. Trump has asked the Prime Minister about this several times and has also publicly lobbied to host the tournament at the golf course which his organisation has owned since 2014. Trump even claimed that “everybody wants to see the Open Championship” at the Ayrshire course.
Also Read: Donald Trump the Reason Scotland’s Turnberry Denied of a British Open?
However, an official spokesperson for the Prime Minister did not deny that discussions have taken place with the R&A, but insisted that the final decision would be made by the R&A and has nothing to do with government intervention.
“I wouldn’t get into specific conversations but it’s for sporting bodies to make decisions on tournament venues, not the Government,” the spokesperson said. “Obviously the Government is in regular contact with sporting bodies on tournaments in the usual way but not beyond that.”
“It’s clearly right and proper and usual for Government to engage with organisers of major sporting events as part of the business of government, but in terms of decisions around tournament hosting venues, that is for the relevant sporting bodies to take decisions on,” he added.
R&A Chief Executive Speaks on the Issue
Mark Darbon, the new chief executive of the R&A, has revealed that he is open to hosting the Open at Turnberry “at some point.” In recent days, reports have indicated that government officials and the R&A have primarily focused their talks on the logistical challenges they would likely face in staging the Open at Turnberry.
The parties were worried about how to get the large number of fans in and out of the site by road, rail, and air. Turnberry is a one-hour drive along a single A-road and two-and-a-half hour train trip from Glasgow.
“At Turnberry, there are definitely some logistical and commercial challenges that we face around the road, rail and accommodation infrastructure,” Darbon said. “We’re doing some feasibility work around what it would look like to return to that venue and the investment that it would require.”
There have also been reports that Turnberry would need hundreds of millions of pounds of investment to put it in the right shape for the tournament. This includes providing enough high-quality hotel accommodation for fans in the area and a good road network.
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