Sorry Trump, British Open returns to Troon

The British Open is returning to Royal Troon in 2023 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first Open on the western Scottish links and to stoke memories of Henrik Stenson’s magnificent duel he won against Phil Mickelson.

Some 40 kilometres to the south, United States President Donald Trump’s course at Turnberry will have to wait.

The R&A announced the addition to the Open schedule on Tuesday. That extends a rotation of Royal St. George’s in England this year; St. Andrews next year for the 150th edition of golf’s oldest championship; Royal Liverpool in England in 2022; and then the return to Ayrshire coast for Royal Troon for the 10th time.

Troon is where Arthur Havers beat Walter Hagen in 1923, the first time it was held there. Other champions include Arnold Palmer (1962) and Tom Watson (1982), but the most famous of all was the last time at Troon in 2016. Stenson and Mickelson pulled away from the field and battled to the end. Stenson shot 63 on the final day to set the major championship scoring record at the time of 264 (later matched by Brooks Koepka in the 2018 PGA Championship) and win by three shots.

It will have been seven years since Royal Troon last hosted the Open. It will be an eightyear gap between Opens for Royal Liverpool, where Rory McIlroy won in 2014. Turnberry, perhaps the most scenic of links courses on the rotation, last held the Open in 2009 when Stewart Cink beat 59year-old Watson in a playoff.