Another venue in Ireland may host the Open before it returns to historic Scots courses

Scottish Sun

17-07-2025

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THE OPEN Championship will be held at a SECOND Irish venue before it returns to two historic Scottish courses, according to top golf chiefs.
Royal Portrush returned to the Open rota in 2019 and the famous tournament is taking place there once again this week.
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Trump Turnberry is one of Scotland's best and most famous golf clubs
Credit: Les Gallagher
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But despite efforts to bring the Open back there, it looks unlikely
Credit: PA
The island of Ireland had gone 68 years without hosting golf's oldest and most prestigious event, in large part because of the effects of The Troubles.
Portrush was well-received by fans and golfers alike and the R&A has strongly suggested that the Open could be played at another Irish course in the near future.
Portmarnock just outside Dublin is the venue being lined up by the governing body and it could host the Open as soon as 2028.
Next year's tournament will be held in England at Royal Birkdale before it returns to Scotland in 2027, with the OId Course at St Andrews due to welcome golfers for the 155th Open.
Scotland is the home of the Open but two of its most renowned courses are in danger of being forgotten when it comes to hosting the championship.
For several years, Trump Turnberry has been ranked as one of the best - if not the best - golf course in the UK.
Due to the fact it is owned by US President Donald Trump, the R&A insisted that they would never take the Open there because of the controversy it could bring.
Former R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers adopted a hard-line stance on the Open going back to Turnberry, believing that focus would be detracted from the tournament itself due to Trump's profile.
New R&A chief Mark Darbon has been much more receptive to the idea of the Open coming back to Turnberry, going as far as saying it was indeed BACK on their rota of courses.
But he has now poured cold water on that happening any time soon - and revealed that another proud Scottish venue is unlikely to be awarded the Open in its current form.
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That course is Muirfield, a course that has hosted the Open 16 times but not since 2013.
The North Berwick venue is one of the fairest links tests and 18-time major winner Jack Nicklaus once called it the best golf course in Britain (he even named his own marquee course, Muirfield Village, after it).
Ayrshire coast site Turnberry has held the tournament four times in its history, most notably as the venue for 1977's Duel in the Sun between Nicklaus and Tom Watson.
Despite their history and popularity, they will be passed over until they can solve certain infrastructure problems, Darbon says.
Darbon cited transport and accommodation as issues Turnberry must overcome. The A77 is the only main road for buses and cars to the village and the nearest train stations are Girvan and Maybole, which are five and 13 miles away respectively.
He said: "I think we have been extremely clear on our position in regard to Turnberry. We love the golf course but we have some big logistical issues there.
"You've seen the scale of the set-up here and there's some work to do on the road, rail and accommodation infrastructure around Turnberry.
"We've explicitly not taken it out of our pool of venues but we'd need to address those logistical challenges should we return.
"Unless we address the logistical challenges, it's difficult for us to go back.
"I met a couple of months ago with Eric Trump and some of the leadership from the Trump golf organisation from Turnberry. We had a really good discussion.
"I think they understand clearly where we are coming from.
"We talked through some of the challenges that we have so we have a good dialogue with them."
While Turnberry's main obstacles are away from the course itself, Darbon says the main challenges for Muirfield are the inadequate practice facilities.
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Phil Mickelson won the Claret Jug the last time the Open was at Muirfield
Credit: Times Newspapers Ltd
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The East Lothian venue has hosted the tournament 16 times
Credit: Alamy
He said: "We love the golf course at Muirfield. We're in discussions with the venue right now.
"There are some things we need to evolve at Muirfield, the practice ground in particular is a challenge for us with a modern Open.
"And there's some work to facilitate some infrastructure we need, but there's some good dialogue and we'd love to go back there in the future."
So as more traditional locations such as Turnberry and Muirfield face being snubbed as Open venues for the foreseeable future, new sites like Portmarnock are firmly in the running.
"Yes, we are thinking about Portmarnock," confirmed Darbon.
"We think it's a wonderful links golf course and we've been really encouraged by the support in principle that we have had from the Irish government to work with us to understand if we can stage an Open Championship there in the future.
"We're knee deep in feasibility work to help us answer that question fully We expect to have a clearer picture by the back end of this year."
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Portmarnock Golf Club in Ireland could be the newest Open venue
Credit: Getty
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