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Senior Whitehall officials have asked golf bosses whether they can host the 2028 Open championship at Donald Trump’s Turnberry course after repeated requests from the US president, sources have said.
Officials had asked senior people at the R&A, which organises the world’s oldest major golf championship, what the hurdles would be to hosting the 2028 Open at Turnberry.
One source described the talks as direct lobbying from the government, although others said officials had asked about hypothetical problems with the idea, rather than insisting that it happen.
One person with knowledge of the discussions said: “The government is doing everything it can to get close to Trump. One concrete thing is that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have been involved in pushing for the Open to return to Trump-owned Turnberry.”
Both the DCMS and Trump Turnberry declined to comment.
Two other people briefed on conversations between the US president and Keir Starmer said Trump had asked the prime minister multiple times about hosting the Open at Turnberry, which the Trump Organization has owned since 2014.
Trump has previously lobbied publicly to host the Open at the Ayrshire course, saying in 2023: “Everybody wants to see the Open championship here.”
King Charles acknowledged the course’s importance to Trump when he wrote to him offering a visit to one of his Scottish estates should the president already be in the country visiting Turnberry.
Hosting the Open could provide a welcome financial boost for SLC Turnberry, the course’s operating company, which is run by the president’s sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. Last year the company lost £1.7m, having made £571,000 in the previous year – its only profit in 10 years.
The R&A has a list of nine or 10 historic courses it would consider for hosting the Open, including famous venues such as St Andrews and Royal Birkdale. Turnberry is on that list, having hosted the championship in 2009. However golf experts point out that the event has grown substantially since then. While the 2009 Open attracted 123,000 people, the event at Royal Troon last year was attended by over 250,000.
The R&A previously said it would not host the tournament at Turnberry in the wake of the January 6 attack by Trump supporters on the Capitol in 2021. Last November, the then head of the organisation, said he did not want “media noise” detracting from the game.
Since then however the R&A has changed leadership. And in an apparent shift of position Mark Darbon, the new chief executive, said last week he would like to see the championship return to Turnberry “at some point”.
Those briefed on the discussions between government officials and the R&A say they have mainly focused on the logistical challenges to hosting the Open at Turnberry. They said the main problems would be getting the sheer number of spectators in and out of the site by road, rail and air, given Turnberry is a two-and-a-half hour train trip from Glasgow, or a one-hour drive along a single A-road.
Darbon said last week: “At Turnberry, there are definitely some logistical and commercial challenges that we face around the road, rail and accommodation infrastructure. We’re doing some feasibility work around what it would look like to return to that venue and the investment that it would require.”
One minister told the Financial Times earlier this year the venue would need “tens, or hundreds, of millions of pounds of investment” to make it easier to reach and to provide enough high-quality hotel accommodation in the area.
A spokesperson for R&A said: “We regularly engage with government and local government regarding venues. We have explained the logistical challenges around Turnberry to the government and they are aware of the position.”
