Donald Trump’s Turnberry Golf Club will not be the venue for the next Open Championship, as the R&A has confirmed that Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club will host the 156th Open in 2028. The current year’s Open will be staged at Royal Birkdale, and the historic links at St Andrews are slated to welcome the championship in 2027. While Turnberry has long campaigned for a place in the Open rotation, the club faces a series of logistical and financial hurdles that must be resolved before it can be reconsidered. Mark Darbon, the chief executive of the R&A, explained to Sky Sports that Turnberry presents a "logistical challenge" for a modern major.
He noted that the scale of today’s Open demands robust road, rail and accommodation networks, and that the remote Ayrshire location makes it difficult to meet those requirements. "We have a good dialogue with the venue and we remain open‑minded," Darlon said, adding that the conversation will continue as the organization assesses potential solutions. Muirfield, another storied Scottish club, has also been left out of the near‑term schedule. The course last hosted the Open in 2013, when Phil Mickelson secured a three‑shot victory.
In 2016, former R&A chief Martin Slumbers indicated that Muirfield would not be considered again until it lifted its ban on female members. Although the club voted in 2017 to admit women, it still has not re‑entered the Open rota, despite a high‑profile appeal from Rory McIlroy in early 2024. The nearest opportunity for Muirfield appears to be 2031, after the neighboring Renaissance Club has been awarded the Genesis Scottish Open through 2030. The 2028 Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes will mark the course’s first appearance since 2012, when Ernie Els claimed his second Claret Jug.
Lytham has a distinguished roll of champions that includes legends such as Bobby Jones, Bobby Locke, Peter Thomson, Sir Bob Charles, Tony Jacklin, Gary Player, Seve Ballesteros, Tom Lehman and David Duval. Darbon praised the venue as "one of the world’s finest links courses" and highlighted its historic significance, noting that the championship first arrived there in 1926 when Bobby Jones won.
Tim Walker, chairman of the council at Royal Lytham & St Annes, expressed pride in being chosen for the 156th Open. He reflected on the club’s centennial celebration of Jones’s 1926 victory and the granting of its Royal status, and he looked forward to welcoming the sport’s elite players and a global audience to England’s coastal links.
The R&A’s decision to move the Open back to August in 2028 is designed to avoid a clash with the Los Angeles Olympic Games. The schedule also aligns with the AIG Women’s Open, which will be held at Lytham from July 29 to August 2, 2028, and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports. In recent years, the Open has produced memorable moments: Scottie Scheffler captured his first Claret Jug at Royal Portrush in 2025, while the 2026 Open at Royal Birkdale attracted over one million ticket applications, underscoring the event’s growing popularity. The 2025 tournament at Portrush set an attendance record outside St Andrews, with 278,000 spectators across four days.
Trump, who purchased Turnberry in April 2014, has repeatedly lobbied for the course to re‑enter the Open rota. He reportedly appealed to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to support Turnberry’s candidacy. The Ailsa Course, Turnberry’s flagship layout, has hosted the Open four times, most recently in 2009 when Stewart Cink prevailed. While the venue is celebrated for its dramatic coastal setting, the R&A has repeatedly cited concerns that the focus would shift from the sport to the political profile of the U.S.
president who owns the property. The R&A first voiced these reservations in 2021, emphasizing that the organization could not guarantee that the championship’s narrative would remain centered on the players and the course.
This stance was echoed after the PGA of America stripped Trump National Golf Club Bedminster of its right to host the 2022 PGA Championship. An official R&A statement declared, "We had no plans to stage any of our championships at Turnberry and will not do so in the foreseeable future. We will not return until we are convinced that the focus will be on the championship, the players and the course itself." In 2025, Eric Trump met with R&A officials to discuss the venue.
While the talks were described as constructive, the core issue—logistical feasibility—remained unresolved. Darbon said he would "love" to see the Open at Turnberry again, but reiterated that the current infrastructure could not support the scale of a modern major. He noted that discussions with Eric Trump clarified the challenges and that the R&A maintains an open line of communication with the Trump golf organization.
The British government has also been approached about Turnberry’s candidacy. A Guardian report from 2025 indicated that a spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s office contacted the R&A to suggest Turnberry for 2028, but the R&A stressed that venue decisions are independent of government influence.
An R&A spokesperson told Sky Sports that they regularly engage with national and local authorities, and that the logistical concerns have been clearly communicated to the government. Despite the setbacks for Turnberry, the Trump brand continues to host high‑profile events. This week the PGA Tour will travel to Trump National Doral in Miami for the inaugural Cadillac Championship, the fourth Signature Event of the 2026 season, with live coverage on Sky Sports Golf.
The tournament will showcase the Miami course’s modern facilities and attract a global television audience. In summary, while Turnberry remains a world‑class links course, the combination of remote location, limited transport links and the potential for political distraction have kept it out of the Open rotation for the foreseeable future. Royal Lytham & St Annes, with its rich history and robust infrastructure, will take centre stage in 2028, promising another chapter of memorable golf moments for fans worldwide.