British Open won't be held at Donald Trump's Turnberry course anytime soon
Just like it’s American counterpart, The R&A won’t hold the British Open at Trump Turnberry resort anytime soon.
The R&A announced on Monday that President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf club in Scotland will not host the major championship “for the foreseeable future.”
The decision came after the PGA of America announced that the 2022 PGA Championship is being moved from Trump’s course in Bedminster, New Jersey, after the attacks on the U.S. Capitol last week.
There were no plans for a future British Open to be held at Turnberry, however the course is in a group of 10 courses where the tournament rotates. The event was last held there in 2009, before Trump purchased the course.
"We had no plans to stage any of our championships at Turnberry and will not do so in the foreseeable future,” R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said in a statement. "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.''
Trump purchased the course in 2014, and renovated it significantly shortly after. The British Open has been held there four times previously, including in 1986 when Greg Norman won his first major and in 1977 when Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus squared off in the “Duel in the Sun.”
The course, located in southwest Scotland, held the Women’s British Open in 2015.
The announcement likely won’t sit well with Trump, who last year reportedly tried to pressure the British government to “help steer” the tournament back to Turnberry with the help of Woody Johnson — the American ambassador to Britain and owner of the New York Jets.
PGA of America cuts ties with Donald Trump
The R&A’s announcement on Monday came less than a day after the PGA of America — which runs separately from the PGA Tour — announced it was moving next year’s PGA championship away from Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey.
The decision, the PGA of America said, was due to the attacks and failed insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last week — something that left five people dead and led to lawmakers introducing a new article of impeachment on Monday. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on that article later this week, which will make Trump the first president in history to be impeached twice while in office.
“We find ourselves in a political situation not of our making,” PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh said Sunday. “We’re fiduciaries for our members, for the game, for our mission and for our brand. And how do we best protect that? Our feeling was given the tragic events of Wednesday that we could no longer hold it at Bedminster. The damage could have been irreparable. The only real course of action was to leave.”
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