Latest news with #RoyalLytham
USA Today
03-05-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Lynch: Donald Trump is trying to bully his way to an Open at Turnberry, but he'll be a loser
Lynch: Donald Trump is trying to bully his way to an Open at Turnberry, but he'll be a loser There was a time when major championship venues were selected largely on the merits of the golf course, but that was back around the time that Jimmy Carter had to place his peanut farm in a blind trust to avoid the appearance of enriching himself off the presidency, both concepts now quaint relics of a bygone era. The criteria for deciding where majors are held now places greater priority on commercial returns and logistics, even among the threadbare seaside towns of the British Isles. Carnoustie is indisputably among the U.K.'s finest links courses, but it went a quarter-century between hosting Opens for lack of a decent hotel (it still doesn't have one, despite the monstrosity erected by the 18th green). Royal Lytham last had the championship in 2012, and is reworking its layout and addressing neighborhood issues to accommodate the enormous infrastructure that would come with (hopefully) being awarded a 12th Open. Northern Ireland's Royal Portrush was ignored for decades until the whiff of gun smoke faded, but this summer will host its second Open in six years, the first having proved intoxicatingly lucrative to the organizers at the Royal & Ancient. The most pressing consideration varies by venue for the R&A, but only one criterion really matters for Donald Trump — whatever he wants. Trump purchased Turnberry in 2014, knowing it was in the R&A's rotation and confident he was also buying the major he has long coveted. But the Open hasn't returned since its fourth staging at the Ayrshire resort, in '09. Last week, the Guardian newspaper reported that Trump has repeatedly asked British officials to lean on the R&A to bring the Open back to Turnberry. Since he treats his own government as a means for graft and settling grievances, it's unsurprising that he treats foreign governments similarly, but his odds of winning this battle are minuscule. Since Trump's extensive renovation of the Ailsa links has been widely praised, the worthiness of the course is not an impediment. But that's the only winning hand he holds. Logistics are a major strike against Turnberry, which is a 30-minute drive from the nearest town and an hour from any city. 'There are definitely some logistical and commercial challenges that we face around the road, rail and accommodation infrastructure,' said Mark Darbon, the R&A's chief executive. One figure exposes both the infrastructure shortcomings of Turnberry as an Open venue and the enormous financial hit the R&A would absorb from returning there, which it can ill afford. The last championship held at the remote resort drew 123,000 spectators. By comparison, last year Royal Troon attracted 250,000 while Portrush sold out at 278,000. Darbon knows that remediating Turnberry's issues would take years and untold millions in funding. 'We're doing some feasibility work around what it would look like to return to that venue and the investment that it would require,' he added, which is polite British-speak for 'piss off, pal.' The problems aren't limited to roads, railways and revenue. There's a reputational risk to the championship that the R&A would be nuts to entertain. A Turnberry Open would be a farce given the security measures involved in staging a major while the U.S. president is front and center grandstanding, because he ain't staying home. (The year of such an Open is immaterial since Trump has made clear his desire to violate the Constitution's Twenty-Second Amendment and remain in office.) There's also the matter of the 34-times convicted felon having a prior when it comes to golf's biggest tournaments. The PGA of America stripped Trump of the '22 PGA Championship after his incitement of the Capitol insurrection that left five people dead. Around that time, Darbon's predecessor at the R&A, Martin Slumbers, made clear that the Open wouldn't go to Turnberry '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 focus will never be on the championship, the players and the course as long as Trump's name is above the door, and the R&A knows it. But the Open is Trump's last real shot at a major, and he knows it. The R&A has announced venues only through 2027, whereas PGA Championships are assigned through 2031 and the next available slot for the U.S. Open is 2043. There are nine alternative courses in the Open rotation, with speculation that Portmarnock Golf Club in Dublin could also be added to the list. All present a better case than Turnberry, not least because none is affiliated with a man whose lawless authoritarianism grows ever more brazen. There may come a day when the 'Champion Golfer of the Year' is again crowned at Turnberry, but Trump being there as host to see it is about as likely as his winning the Claret Jug as a competitor. Granted, he's suspiciously adept at 'winning' championships at his own courses, but things aren't quite as flexible when the R&A is tallying the score.
Telegraph
23-03-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Sergio Garcia ‘shell-shocked' after missing tiddler to crush Open dream
Sergio Garcia has suffered his fair share of Open Championship heartache over the last three decades and on Sunday the two-time runner-up penned a new painful chapter in this torrid story of close calls. Faced with a three-footer for a birdie that would have punched his ticket to Royal Portrush in July – and so see the Spaniard return to what he calls 'my favourite major' for the first time in three years – he agonisingly pushed the tiddler wide. It meant Jason Kokrak joined fellow LIV rebels Patrick Reed and the winner Carlos Ortiz as the trio who earned berths from the Asian Tour International Series event in Macau. If Garcia had converted successfully, he would have come joint third with Kokrak, but would have been granted the spot because of his lower world ranking. It was a genuine case of 'hit the hole or bust' and, although he did not speak to media afterwards, those present at the layout in the Chinese city reported that Garcia was clearly shell-shocked. If the 45-year-old now fails to find another route to the Dunluce links, this moment will inevitably hurt terribly. Garcia has a green jacket in his locker, but he makes no secret of the fact that the Claret Jug is the title he craves above all others. 'I have so much history in the Open,' he once told Telegraph Sport. 'It is my lifelong dream to win it and I will never stop trying.' He was a 16-year-old amateur when he made his debut at Royal Lytham and has played in 24 more Opens since then, racking up 10 top-10s. That is a fine record, but Garcia's Open odyssey has been marked by despair and what could have been. The picture of the teenager crying in the arms of his mother following an 18-over 89 at Carnoustie in 1999 has long since entered golfing folklore – and when this natural links performer has thrust himself into contention his experiences have still been defined by rancour. At the 2006 Open he was put in his place by his nemesis Tiger Woods – Garcia dressed all in yellow for the final round at Hoylake and Woods later messaged a friend 'I just splattered Tweetie Pie' – as he tailed off in fifth. And then, the next year, when he seemed certain to prevail he bogeyed the last, before being beaten in a play-off by another bitter rival in Padraig Harrington. Some will believe that Garcia has been put out of his Open misery early on this occasion, but he still has at least two more opportunities to book his spot – and not just at final qualifying, the last-chance saloon in which he fell two shots shy last year. This is the first year that the R&A has granted LIV a direct pathway to the major via its money list, with the leading player not already exempt in the top five of LIV standings following LIV Golf Dallas in June awarded a place in the 153rd Open. At the moment, Garcia is third on the order of merit and with the two players ahead – Joaquin Niemann and Jon Rahm already qualified – the veteran is in the box seat in that particular race. The 45-year-old's first job is to remain in that position for the next three LIV events, as that will see him take the US Open place offered for the first time by the US Golf Association. As Garcia tries to obtain an unlikely Ryder Cup return for September's match in New York, he understands the importance of highlighting his good form to Europe captain Luke Donald in the majors, as well as on LIV, where he has been playing well, with two wins in the last eight events.
