Trump Talks Continue, but Turnberry’s Open Return Is Uncertain

It appears unlikely that U.S. President Donald Trump’s prized golf course in Scotland will host an Open Championship while he’s still in office—but hope does remain for a future edition.

The Trump Turnberry golf club has not hosted an Open since 2009, five years before the Trump Organization purchased it in 2014 for $60 million. Ahead of this week’s Open at Royal Portrush Golf Club, R&A CEO Mark Darbon gave an update on discussions about returning to the venue.

“We’ve been extremely clear on our position in respect of Turnberry,” Darbon said Wednesday. “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.”

The R&A (formally known as the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews), which organizes The Open, has already picked hosts for 2026 (Royal Birkdale) and 2027 (St Andrews), meaning 2028 is the only year Turnberry could host while Trump is in office. Darbon said they will announce a host for 2028 within the next year.

Talks With Trump Continue

Darbon said he met with Eric Trump, as well as other executives from the Trump Organization and Turnberry, a couple of months ago. “We had a really good discussion,” he said. “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.”

Meanwhile, Darbon said he is not feeling pressure from the U.K. government, after reports that Trump asked U.K. government officials about whether Turnberry will be able to host another major championship, and those officials in turn inquired with The R&A about that potential. 

“We’ve spoken to them specifically about Turnberry, and I think they’ve made it clear that the decision around where we take our championship rests with us,” Darbon said of the government.

Trump is scheduled to head to the U.K. in September to visit King Charles III.

Not the Only Course Waiting

Turnberry is not the only course out of the 10 currently on the Open rotation with an uncertain future. Muirfield, the Scottish links that have hosted 16 Opens, last welcomed the tournament in 2013, and don’t have another one on the books, either. 

“We love the golf course at Muirfield,” Darbon said. “We’re in a discussion with the venue right now. There’s some things that we need to evolve at Muirfield, the practice ground in particular is a challenge for us with a modern Open, and there’s some work we need to do with the venue to facilitate some of the infrastructure that we require, some cabling to enable the scale of the production that we have these days. But it’s a good dialogue, and we’d love to be back there in the future.”