By Robert Green
You may have seen the photos in the press the other day of President Trump posing with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods while he was playing golf with them at his club in Florida. And why not? A guy needs to take some time off from trying to get a wall built.
Great morning at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida with @JackNicklaus and @TigerWoods! pic.twitter.com/mdPN4yvS8e
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2019
You may also have seen a story in the press about the president’s trip to the UK last summer. Police Scotland announced the other week that it had spent £3.2 million in excess of its usual budgets to cover the costs of security for The Donald’s two-night stay at his Trump Turnberry resort in Ayrshire. This figure included overtime claims by the 5,537 officers or related staff who were dragged into the process.
Trump bought Turnberry in 2014. It had hosted four Opens to that point. It’s still on four, the last of those in 2009. Speaking last year, Martin Slumbers, chief executive of the R&A, said: “Turnberry is a fantastic golf course and will be a great venue when we get there.” He added: “It would be very complex having an Open at Turnberry at the moment. You’ve got the ownership issue of the course and the staging there.”
How might the R&A handle this tricky situation? Perhaps by taking a leaf out of the PGA of America’s playbook. They have announced venues for the Ryder Cup in the United States through to 2036. I’m not suggesting that sort of forward planning but say, the day after the Open finishes this July, the R&A declare that they have been so thrilled with Portrush that the championship will return there in 2023. A short while later it is declared that in 2024 the Open will be at some course in England, 2025 at St Andrews (resuming its hosting in the ‘0’ and ‘5’ years) and 2026 at Turnberry. By then, even if he wins a second term, Trump will no longer be in the White House. Simples!
In other news, the Washington Post reported last month that during the recent 35-day government shutdown, which was brought about by the president’s stand-off with the House of Representatives, “about a dozen undocumented workers” were fired from their jobs at the Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey. It is not known if any of them came from beyond America’s southern border…
You can follow Robert Green on Twitter @robrtgreen and enjoy his other blog f-factors.com plus you can read more by him on golf at robertgreengolf.com