Donald Trump: Former US President claims The Open wants to come back to Turnberry
- Published
Donald Trump played in the pro-am at the LIV Golf Team Championship at Trump Doral resort in Miami and stated his support for LIV
Donald Trump has claimed The Open's organisers want to bring the tournament back to his Turnberry course on the Ayrshire coast.
The championship, organised by the R&A, has not been staged there since Stewart Cink's victory over Tom Watson in 2009.
The former US president bought the resort in 2014 and invested hundreds of millions of pounds renovating the hotel and redesigning the course.
"I can tell you they want to come back," Trump told reporters after playing the pro-am at the LIV Golf Team Championship being held at the Trump Doral resort here in Miami.
"The Open wants to come back. I think this will have to be sorted out first," he added, referring to the ongoing disputes over the breakaway LIV Golf tour.
"It is rated the number one course in Europe now. We did a big surgery on Turnberry and it has gotten great reviews, even from people who hate me.
"They want The Open to go back."
However, a spokesman for the R&A said on Thursday: "There's no change on our position on this."
The organisation's chief executive Martin Slumbers' most recent remarks on Turnberry's future were in January 2021, when he 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."
Trump also confirmed interest in his Aberdeen course staging a European Legends Tour event next year, first reported in the Daily Telegraph, external earlier this week.
"We want to have the PGA Seniors event, so we may do it. We're talking about it," Trump told BBC Sport.
The 76-year-old former president accompanied four-time major champion Brooks Koepka for the front nine of his pro-am appearance and former Masters champion Sergio Garcia on the inward half.
Trump offered staunch support for the Saudi Arabia-funded LIV organisation and was heavily critical of the PGA Tour, which took its WGC event away from Doral to Mexico after the 2016 event here.
Garcia was one of the first golfers to join the LIV tour
He also predicted that more stars will join Open champion Cameron Smith and former world number one Dustin Johnson in defecting to the LIV Tour.
"A lot of others are coming over, big names," he said. "The star system is always very important in sports. You don't have the star system, you are not going to be successful - and they've got the stars."
Trump added: "It's big time, it's big-time money and it's unlimited money. The Saudis have done a good job and they love golf. It is different. We are having a good time."
Before the LIV team event, which is worth $50m (£44m) with $16m split among the winning team of four golfers, Garcia explained his decision to quit Europe's DP World Tour.
The Spaniard has not played sufficient tournaments on the circuit to retain membership and remain eligible for the Ryder Cup.
Last month, he walked out after the first round of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
"Obviously I knew some of the things that might happen if I joined here," Garcia told reporters.
"You can see that some of the guys on the other side don't really want me here. I don't want to be a burden to anyone and even less in a Ryder Cup.
"I'd rather be away from that, as much as it hurts, and make sure Europe has the best chance of winning, than me being there and three or four guys that are going to be there and are going to be upset."