THE Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is celebrating yet another successful outing for the jewel in its crown, the Open Championship, played over the past few days at the Royal St George’s club at Sandwich in Kent.
It was the 15th occasion on which the course has hosted the Open, this year being the 149th tournament of that famous name.
There’s always someone willing to decry the Open and its venue, and this year it was the turn of Donald Trump to have a ranting moan because the tournament is not being played at one of his Scottish courses, Trump Turnberry.
He issued a statement through his formal press channel that he is allowed as a former president.
“I have spent some time watching The Open Championship (formerly known as The British Open), and it is terrific!” wrote Trump.
Actually, it has always been the one and only Open Championship, and the name “the British Open” only came into use after other countries such as the USA began their own “Open” tournaments.
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Trump continued: “But as almost all of the great players, sportscasters and golf aficionados know, the greatest site and course of all for The Open is Turnberry, in Scotland.
“It is truly a magical place, the players want to be there, and at some point in time the players will be there.”
Then he got just a little bizarre: “But this course was not chosen for The Open because they consider a wonderful person, and many-time Club Champion, named Donald J Trump, to be too controversial – this is, of course, a false reputation caused mainly by the Fake News Media.
“Remember, though, controversy only makes things ‘hotter.’”
He can’t even spell properly: “In any event, Turnberry is also the course where the greatest match of all time was played, nicknamed ‘The Dual [sic] in the Sun’, which boiled down to an Open between the great Jack Nicklaus and the great Tom Watson.”
That was the Duel in the Sun in 1977, played some 37 years before Trump bought the course.
He waxed on: “Turnberry is on the ocean with the most spectacular holes, sightlines, shots and seaside views of any course in the World.
“It is a shame that the phenomenal Turnberry Golf links, the best in the World, sits empty during Open Championships, while far lesser courses are on display. Oh well, life proceeds forward! Someday The Open will be back at Turnberry”.
It’s Trump’s own big mouth that lost Turnberry the Open.
The 2015 Grand Slam of Golf was due to be held at the Trump National in Los Angeles but was cancelled after Trump, then a presidential candidate, made controversial remarks about Mexican immigrants.
After the Capitol insurrection, the PGA of America removed Trump’s Bedminster Club’s right to stage the PGA Championship in 2022, claiming: “It has become clear that it would be detrimental to the PGA of America brand.”
The Open has not returned to Turnberry since Stewart Cink beat Tom Watson in a playoff there in 2009. It was due to get the Championship in 2023, but the R&A have made it clear since 2015 that Turnberry will not regain the Open as long as it continues to be owned by the 45th President of the USA.
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