Want to know why The Open won’t return to Turnberry? Look at the Irish Open

The R&A has now seen what they’d have to put up with if The Open went back to Turnberry.

If you watched the Irish Open last week at Trump International at Doonbeg, you saw what the President’s presence requires at a golf event. This isn’t just any President, either, is it?

During the third round, tournament winner Shane Lowry teed off on the 3rd hole with several helicopters parked behind him.

As documented by Michael Foley of the Times, a fleet of motorcycles, escort Chevrolets, ambulances and minibuses were tasked with transporting Trump from his links hotel to the golf course.

Security was heightened, to say the least, as Trump became the first US President to attend an Irish Open. On Friday evening, Brian Keogh posted a video on X, appearing to show ‘army personnel’ on the links, searching and preparing it for the President’s arrival.

This upheaval isn’t normal at golf tournaments, but it does happen when Trump is involved. He was at the LIV Golf event at Bedminster in New Jersey, a club which he owns, back in August, and has been on site for other events on previous LIV schedules.

He was at the Cadillac Championship on the PGA Tour in May at Doral, which he owns. At last year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage, he marched to the first tee with Bryson DeChambeau, with a sniper sitting in the stands.

Now, imagine all of this at The Open – the game’s oldest and most treasured tournament. That is a concern the R&A has outlined in recent years.

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Arguably the greatest acquisition in Trump’s golfing portfolio is Turnberry in Ayrshire, or Trump Turnberry as it’s really called. The Ailsa course is one of the best in the world, yet the site hasn’t hosted The Open since 2009.

The first Open held there was in 1977, and it’s possibly the greatest Open, when Tom Watson beat Jack Nicklaus in the ‘Duel in the Sun’. Nick Price and Greg Norman both hoisted the Claret Jug there, too, but those memories felt all the more distant when the R&A announced intentions to steer clear of the venue in 2021.

After the riots on the Capitol in Washington, DC in January, then-R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers released the following statement:

‘We had no plans to stage any of our championships at Turnberry and will not do so in the foreseeable future. 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.’

In March 2025, a pro-Palestinian group vandalised parts of the resort, spraying paint on buildings, after Trump proposed taking ownership of the Gaza Strip.

Again, imagine all of this at The Open. It is conceivable that angry protestors will appear again. Just Stop Oil campaigners vandalised the 17th hole at Royal Liverpool at the 2023 Open, so unfortunately, it can happen.

Friction tends to follow Trump wherever he goes, and could still follow when his second Presidential term ends in 2029.

Trump is an issue, but could Turnberry host The Open anyway?

The ‘current circumstances’ part of the above statement from the R&A covers the issue with Trump’s association with Turnberry, but the ‘had no plans’ part at the start points to an issue that preceded the Capitol riots.

The Open is an event of logistics and infrastructure, as much as pin positions and pot bunkers. 120,000 people attended when Stewart Cink broke Tom Watson’s heart 17 years ago. The R&A would surely want to double that figure if a Turnberry Open happened again. Over 300,000 were at Birkdale in 2026.

In terms of fan movement, trains can only get you so close. Road access has always been a concern, as have hotels and where fans could stay. Questions surround the venue’s ability to host what has become a monstrous event.

The R&A has appointed a new chief executive in 2024. Mark Darbon stepped into office, and while he has been vague at times with recent Turnberry questions, he has indicated a willingness to take The Open back there.

“Turnberry is still in our thinking,” Darbon said earlier this year. “There is not a huge amount of new news to report. We really like the golf course. We know that there are some logistical challenges that relate to staging a modern Open Championship. 

“They’re primarily off the course – road, rail and accommodation infrastructure. We’ve got a really good dialogue with the club and its ownership, and there is a pretty transparent discussion there, and that dialogue will continue.”

In July 2025, Darbon also revealed he’d held ‘positive talks’ about the infrastructure issues at Turnberry with Eric Trump, the President’s son.

With visits to LIV events, plus the PGA Tour’s return to Doral and the DP World Tour visiting Trump venues in Doonbeg and Aberdeenshire, is the golf world might be softening towards the divisive 80-year-old of the Oval Office?

In 2028, The Open is going to Royal Lytham & St Annes. While every venue has logistical headaches, this famous links on the Fylde coast is tighter in acreage than most. Moving holes and building a new practice ground were required to bring The Open back for the first time since 2012.

Maybe the dialogue Darbon has had with the Trump contingent is about similar developments at Turnberry.

However, the statement made by Slumbers five years ago was very powerful. The tournament and finding a winner are the R&A’s concerns.

President or not, the image of Trump inserting himself into the Claret Jug ceremony might be too much for anyone to stomach.

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