Last week, former United States President Donald Trump was convicted on all 34 charges of falsifying business records during his criminal trial in New York. While that’s obviously bad news for Trump for a number of reasons, it was a pretty significant blow to his dream of one day hosting a Major golf tournament at one of his golf courses.
Donald Trump is the proud owner of one of Britain’s most iconic golf courses after purchasing his course at Turnberry back in 2014. Since his purchase, he has invested a significant amount of money into the course with the goal of one day hosting the British Open.
Turnberry has hosted the Open four times – 1977, 1986, 1994, and 2009 – and is undeniably one of the top golf courses in the nation. But in 2023, it was excluded from consideration due to its ties to Trump, and it was not expected to be considered for a Major at any point in the future, either.
“However, the R&A, which manages the world-renowned event, is understood to now flatly reject the prospect of selecting Turnberry in the near future. One source suggested Trump’s only option would be to sell up as his ownership is still perceived as a serious security risk due to potential protests,” the Telegraph reported back in 2023.
Despite this, Trump has continued to insist on improving the course in hopes of hosting the Open one day. But if Trump was deemed too controversial to host the event even before he was a convicted felon, it’s far less likely that the R&A will allow his course to host the event after he was convicted on 34 counts.
It was looking unlikely that Trump would ever get the chance to host a Major Championship. Now it’s looking nearly impossible.
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