Trump Turnberry still part of Open rota

• Trump Turnberry still very much part of Open rota
• But it won’t host golf’s oldest major until at least 2022
• R&A on verge of announcing 2020 and 2021 venues

R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers reaffirmed that Trump Turnberry is still very much part of the Open rota – but said it will not host golf’s oldest major until 2022 at the earliest.

The Ayrshire venue’s position as one of the nine venues on the Open rota has been shrouded in controversy over the past year due to the resort being owned by US presidential candidate Donald Trump.

But Slumbers, who is overseeing his first Open Championship after taking over the reins from Peter Dawson, says there have been no plans to remove Turnberry, which last hosted the Open in 2009 when Stewart Cink defeated Tom Watson in a play-off.

“I’ve been very clear around this – Turnberry was and is part of the pool of courses for the Open Championship,” said Slumbers. “There are, at the moment, nine courses, of which Turnberry is one of those.

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“We are also very close to announcing 2020 and 2021, one of which will be in England and one of which will be in St Andrews. We don’t have to consider beyond that for a couple of years, and we’ll be picking that up in a couple of years’ time.”

Slumbers also added that he had no opinion on the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers’ decision to have another vote on admitting women members later this year – saying it was entirely down to membership.

Muirfield was stripped of hosting the Open immediately after the result of the vote in May – which sparked widespread media outrage after the club failed to get the two-thirds majority vote needed to pass the motion.

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“I’ve been very clear all along in saying that a decision around membership is a matter for the club. All we care about is the outcome of that vote – and I’ve been very clear about that with Muirfield – and also Royal Troon.

“I’m delighted because now we can talk about golf and celebrate the 145th Open Championship.”

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R&A press conference :: Trump Turnberry

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