ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) - Donald Trump’s ownership of Turnberry will prevent the Scottish course from staging the British Open for “the foreseeable future,” the chief executive of the R&A said Monday.
Turnberry hasn’t hosted the tournament since it was bought by Trump in 2014.
“We had no plans to stage any of our championships at Turnberry and will not do so in the foreseeable future,” R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said.
Slumbers’ comments came a day after the PGA of America voted to take the PGA Championship event away from Trump’s New Jersey golf course next year. Last week, there was a Trump-fueled riot at the Capitol as Congress was certifying the election victory of President-elect Joe Biden.
“We will not return (to Turnberry),” Slumbers said, “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.”
The last British Open at Turnberry was in 2009, when Stewart Cink beat 59-year-old Tom Watson in a playoff.
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