April 22 (UPI) — Tournament organizers would “love to” return to the Ailsa golf course at Trump Turnberry for a future edition of the British Open, R&A chief executive Mark Darbon told reporters Tuesday.
“A modern Open Championship is a large-scale event,” Darbon said, according to the BBC. “What we know for sure is the golf course is brilliant, so at some point we’d love to be back there.
“We consistently work with our venues and their owners and operators to talk about what an Open Championship demands and how we work with them to bring that to life.”
The British Open was last held at the South Ayrshire, Scotland, venue in 2009. The Trump Organization, founded by Donald Trump and turned over to his sons in 2017 when he became president of the United States, had purchased the course in 2014.
Darbon said organizers are “doing some feasibility work” to analyze what a return to the venue would require.
Golf’s oldest major tournament will be held from July 17 to 20 at Royal Portrush Golf Club in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The 2026 tournament will be held at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. The 2027 British Open will take place at St. Andrews in St. Andrews, Scotland.
The R&A announced Tuesday that the attendance for the 2025 British Open — expected to reach nearly 280,000 — will break the previous record set in 2019 at Royal Portrush, when 237,750 fans attended the tournament.
Organizers said an independent research forecast estimated that the 153rd edition of the tournament will generate more than $284 million in total economic benefit for the country.
“It’s clear that staging a major event such as the Open can generate significant economic benefits for the locations in which they are held and this study demonstrates the huge benefit that the championship brings,” Darbon said in a news release.
The PGA Tour is in Louisiana this week for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in Avondale. The PGA Championship, the second major of the season, will be held May 15 to 18 in Charlotte, N.C. The U.S. Open will be June 12 to 15 in Oakmont, Pa.
