(Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
By Joel Beall
Royal Troon has been selected to host the 2023 Open Championship.
The announcement was made on Tuesday by the R&A. It will be the 10th time Troon has been an Open venue, and 100 years since the claret jug first visited the famed links.
“We are very much looking forward to celebrating another milestone in the cherished history of the Open when we mark the 100th anniversary of the Championship first being played at Royal Troon,” Martin Slumbers, chief executive of the R&A, said in a statement.
Although the centennial celebration made Troon a logical pick, it’s noteworthy that Turnberry and Muirfield were bypassed once again. The Open hasn’t been to Turnberry since 2009, whereas Troon hosted the event in 2016. Due to President Donald Trump’s ownership of the property, a tournament at Turnberry could become a politically charged event, a situation the R&A would like to avoid until his presidency is complete.
“Turnberry is a fantastic golf course and will be a great venue when we get there,” Slumbers said last year “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. But there are a number of other courses we haven’t been to for a few years, and we are looking forward to going back to all of them.”
As for Muirfield, the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers were briefly removed from the Open rota after it failed to permit women into the club. However the club amended its vote, and last year invited its first 12 female members in its 275 years of existence. Muirfield has hosted the Open 16 times, the most behind only St. Andrews and Prestwick, its last tournament coming in 2013.
