The 2028 Open Championship was awarded to England’s Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club on Monday.
The official announcement from the R&A means Scotland’s Trump Turnberry must wait until at least 2029 to host the Open.
“Turnberry is still in our thinking,” R&A CEO Mark Darbon said Monday at Royal Birkdale Golf Club during media day for this year’s Open Championship in July.
Turnberry last hosted the Open in 2009, five years before the Trump Organization — parent company of U.S. President Donald Trump’s real estate portfolio — purchased the property for $60 million.
Turnberry, which also hosted the major championship in 1977, 1986 and 1994, has undergone a reported $200 million in renovations and upgrades since joining the Trump umbrella, according to Front Office Sports. Trump’s sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, have been in charge of the day-to-day operations of the Trump Organization since 2017.
Attendance at the 2009 Open at Turnberry was an estimated 123,000 fans, far below the 200,000-plus common at many of the other venues in rotation.
“We really like the golf course,” Darbon said Monday. “We know that there are some logistical challenges that relate to staging a modern Open Championship there primarily off the course–road, rail, and accommodation infrastructure. We’ve got a really good dialogue with the club and its ownership, pretty transparent discussion there.”
Stewart Cink defeated 59-year-old Tom Watson in a four-hole playoff to win the Open at Turnberry in 2009.
Royal Lytham & St Annes has hosted the Open Championship 11 times since 1926, most recently in 2012 when South Africa’s Ernie Els defeated Adam Scott by one stroke.
–Field Level Media
