Trump-owned Turnberry suffers Open snub
TURNBERRY will not stage the Open until the R&A is “convinced that the focus will be on the championship” and not the course’s owner.
The Ayrshire venue has not been selected to stage the Open Championship since it was purchased by Donald Trump in 2014, with host venues already chosen up to 2024.
On Sunday, Trump National in Bedminster was stripped of next year’s US PGA Championship after organisers said using the course owned by US President Trump would be “detrimental” to their brand.
The PGA of America voted to move one of golf ’s four major championships away from the course in New Jersey less then a week after supporters of the President staged a riot at the US Capitol.
Turnberry last held the Open in 2009, when Stewart Cink defeated Tom Watson in a play-off.
R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said in a 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.”
That could be interpreted as allowing enough time to pass for Trump’s name to become less toxic, or that the ownership of Turnberry will need to change hands before the Open can return.
Meanwhile, Rory Mcilroy has dropped three places to his worst world ranking since February 2019.
The 31-year-old is down to seventh after almost two months out of action since finishing in a tie for fifth at The Masters in mid-november.
It is perhaps not unexpected, given that the PGA Tour teed-off for 2021 last week with the Sentry Tournament of Champions while Mcilroy’s break continued.
It was in Hawaii that Xander Schauffele’s tied fifth place was enough to jump up to fourth in the rankings, while Collin Morikawa and Bryson De Chambeau’s tied seventh spot saw them rise above Mcilroy, to fifth and sixth respectively.
It’s the Holywood golfer’s worst ranking since February 17, 2019, when he was out at number eight. The last time he was outside the world’s top five was just a month later on March 10, 2019.
Mcilroy will have the chance to put it right when gets back into action next week as the European Tour swings into action for 2021 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
He’ll fancy his chances, too, with a history of impressive performances although he has never actually won the tournament, finishing either second or third in seven of his last eight visits.
It’s his first trip to the tournament since 2018 as in the last two seasons he eschewed his normal start to the calender on his native European Tour in favour of starts on the PGA Tour.