The Open Championship has not been held at Turnberry since 2009, and there are no immediate plans for the tournament to return to the US president’s Scottish resort

Turnberry has not hosted The Open under Donald Trump’s ownership(Image: Robert Perry/Getty Images)

Mark Darbon, the chief executive of the R&A which is overseeing this week’s Open Championship, has disclosed that he had discussions with Eric Trump – but the prospect of Turnberry, owned by President Trump, hosting the tournament seems slim.

Trump sent an “honest” plea over his course being host once again but found the course snubbed with the president forced to face the music. Now, ahead of this year’s Open Championship, he’s received a huge update.

The Ailsa Course at Turnberry hasn’t seen the Open since 2009. President Trump acquired the renowned Scottish links course in 2014 for an estimated $60 million, yet his attempts to bring back the prestigious event have been unsuccessful. Meanwhile, he’s seen another of his courses across the Atlantic attacked by vandals and demanded they are jailed.

The R&A’s reluctance to return to Turnberry is influenced by President Trump’s controversial politics, but Darbon has consistently emphasized in recent months that logistics are the primary barrier. The organization has concluded that the venue lacks the capacity to host the Open due to the event’s significant expansion and the necessary infrastructure.

During a press conference on Wednesday before the Open at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, Darbon reiterated his position and provided insights into his conversation with the President’s son. “I think we’ve been extremely clear on our position in respect of Turnberry. We love the golf course but we’ve got some big logistical challenges there,” he remarked.

“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. We’ve had good conversations with the ownership and the venue like we do with all of our venues.

“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.

Mark Darbon discussed Turberry’s future in regards to The Open(Image: Oisin Keniry/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)

“I met a couple of months ago with Eric Trump and some of the leadership from the Trump golf organisation and from Turnberry. 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.”

The buzz is that President Trump will jet over to the UK for a state visit in September, getting the Royal treatment from King Charles and hobnobbing with the British Government. Word on the street is that Trump might nudge Prime Minister Kier Starmer to lean on the R&A about Turnberry’s Open future.

Darbon opened up about the ongoing discussions, stating: “We have an ongoing dialogue with the UK government given that we’re a major event that creates significant value into the UK economy. I think this week’s event will generate £210 million ($281 million) of economic impact for the region which is fantastic. So we have an ongoing conversation with them.”

He continued, addressing the specific topic of Turnberry: “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.”

On the possibility of The Open being affected by a presidential visit, Darbon remarked: “I would find it difficult to predict whether there will be any discussion on The Open if the President is making a visit here.”