Feasibility study will shape Turnberry’s Open future

“We’re doing some feasibility work around what it would look like to return to that venue and the investment that it would require.”

Dabron was quizzed about Turnberry at the official launch of this year’s Open, which will return to Royal Portrush in July for the first time since 2019 and will be the biggest sporting event ever staged in Northern Ireland.

“The last time we were there, I think we had just over 120,000 people,” he said. “We’ve just announced that this summer we’re going to welcome nearly 280,000 people here.”

This year’s Open is already a sellout, with 278,000 tickets sold and Dabron revealed that there will be some changes from the layout from six years ago and to cope with the 40,000 increase in attendance from their last visit.

Turnberry, meanwhile, has been given £200m of improvements since being bought by Trump in 2014.

“A modern Open Championship is a large-scale event,” Dabron added. “What we know for sure is the golf course is brilliant, so at some point we’d love to be back there.

“We consistently work with our venues and their owners and operators to talk about what an Open Championship demands and how we work with them to bring that to life.”