[HCEG1]

Leisurecorp, the Dubai based company who own Turnberry (and are the paymaster of the European Tour) have just been taken over by the Dubai government (themselves $80 billion in debt!)

Work on the Ailsa course and hotel looks to be dragging. The hotel is still covered in scaffolding

Rumours that Troon & Muirfield are on standby seem to have some substance. Troon, as it is ony minutes away from Turnberry and Muirfield as R&A officials were there for the best part of the day on 28 April and the subsequent urgent work which has taken place since then. New tee on 14, new tee behind the wall on #9 Fairways & greens in superb shape. Lots of greenkeeping staff out working hard each & every day

Expect an announcement from Pete Dawson soon, which won't be his usual 'Everything is on target at Turnberry', etc

[mjtoal]

HCEG1, on May 17 2009, 10:14 AM, said:

Leisurecorp, the Dubai based company who own Turnberry (and are the paymaster of the European Tour) have just been taken over by the Dubai government (themselves $80 billion in debt!)

Work on the Ailsa course and hotel looks to be dragging. The hotel is still covered in scaffolding

Rumours that Troon & Muirfield are on standby seem to have some substance. Troon, as it is ony minutes away from Turnberry and Muirfield as R&A officials were there for the best part of the day on 28 April and the subsequent urgent work which has taken place since then. New tee on 14, new tee behind the wall on #9 Fairways & greens in superb shape. Lots of greenkeeping staff out working hard each & every day

Expect an announcement from Pete Dawson soon, which won't be his usual 'Everything is on target at Turnberry', etc

Pity. Turnberry would be a great venue for The Open, and has some great holes and great history. Better track than Troon, in my humble opinion.

[bigwehttam]

Im sleeping in my car at which ever course they play at, so im easy if they switch

[Eagle006]

mjtoal, on May 17 2009, 09:22 AM, said:

HCEG1, on May 17 2009, 10:14 AM, said:

Leisurecorp, the Dubai based company who own Turnberry (and are the paymaster of the European Tour) have just been taken over by the Dubai government (themselves $80 billion in debt!)

Work on the Ailsa course and hotel looks to be dragging. The hotel is still covered in scaffolding

Rumours that Troon & Muirfield are on standby seem to have some substance. Troon, as it is ony minutes away from Turnberry and Muirfield as R&A officials were there for the best part of the day on 28 April and the subsequent urgent work which has taken place since then. New tee on 14, new tee behind the wall on #9 Fairways & greens in superb shape. Lots of greenkeeping staff out working hard each & every day

Expect an announcement from Pete Dawson soon, which won't be his usual 'Everything is on target at Turnberry', etc

Pity. Turnberry would be a great venue for The Open, and has some great holes and great history. Better track than Troon, in my humble opinion.

Agreed. Turnberry is and has been a fantastic Open venue. However, if they haven't got the facilities up to shape in time then they've only got themselves to blame. Will be a real pity though.

[mjtoal]

Eagle006, on May 17 2009, 10:36 AM, said:

mjtoal, on May 17 2009, 09:22 AM, said:

HCEG1, on May 17 2009, 10:14 AM, said:

Leisurecorp, the Dubai based company who own Turnberry (and are the paymaster of the European Tour) have just been taken over by the Dubai government (themselves $80 billion in debt!)

Work on the Ailsa course and hotel looks to be dragging. The hotel is still covered in scaffolding

Rumours that Troon & Muirfield are on standby seem to have some substance. Troon, as it is ony minutes away from Turnberry and Muirfield as R&A officials were there for the best part of the day on 28 April and the subsequent urgent work which has taken place since then. New tee on 14, new tee behind the wall on #9 Fairways & greens in superb shape. Lots of greenkeeping staff out working hard each & every day

Expect an announcement from Pete Dawson soon, which won't be his usual 'Everything is on target at Turnberry', etc

Pity. Turnberry would be a great venue for The Open, and has some great holes and great history. Better track than Troon, in my humble opinion.

Agreed. Turnberry is and has been a fantastic Open venue. However, if they haven't got the facilities up to shape in time then they've only got themselves to blame. Will be a real pity though.

Of course. The Open needs a course in top condition and all the infrastructure in place and the R&A can't go down to the wire hoping it will all work out. If Starwood still ran the hotel, I bet it would be OK now.

[tjy355]

Exactly what work is being done at Turnberry?

[mat562]

Diisappointing news, particularly given that I'm going this year with my father and am (was?) thoroughly looking forward to another Turnberry Open. For my money, it's about the best tract of golfing land on Earth, and arguably the best course on the Open Rota.

Hopefully something can be sorted out that gets things back on track, but it does sound very much as though the peculiar affliction of 20th century Britain - that of never being able get any important project completed without it being a shambolic, overdue and over-budget distaster - may have struck again.

If the worst should happen, the R&A have at least anticipated the problems and have, by all accounts, worked closely with both standby venues to ensure that the kbock-on effects should be minimised.

Fingers crossed.

[neilc]

Matt,

I thought that Carnoustie took some beating.

I have walked round Troon and I say it was on par with a local course Royal Aberdeen,certainly no better.

Havent seen Turnberry though.

[mat562]

I've never played Carnoustie myself - I missed the chance a few years back when I was up at Arbroath for a week or so - but if there's a better place to have a knock than Turnberry with the sun shining I haven't found it yet. I've also been lucky enough to play Royal Troon in my time and, if I'm honest, I thought it was top-tier. An excellent track and a course where it's possible to score well if your game's on-song. With my Yorkshire accent, I haven't dared approach the gates of Muirfield for fear of being turned away by a shotgun-wielding secretary with a big dog.

I've been having a bit of a nose on the web and, albeit what you read obviously isn't guaranteed to be strictly accurate, the gist of things has got to be enough to have the average golf fan a little worried. It's all very demoralising that the game's premier championship should have to be mired by all this nonsense, but at least the R&A still run the show in the style of Britain of Yesteryear - before everything became a routine shambles, and delays and setbacks were accepted as the norm whenever we embark on a major project. Whatever contingency plans are in operation, we can at least have some confidence that it won't be an unmitigated disaster.

I sincerely hope that they can get things turned around because Turnberry is a wonderful venue and would no doubt deliver a championship on a par with the previous stagings. Like it or not as a course, it has a 100% record of identifying the best player in the world whenever it plays host. It'll be a crying shame if it loses out this year because of some bureaucratic nonsense and corporate incompetence - when so much hard work has been put in to improve the course and to get the championship back there.