It may already have been decided; Donald Trump’s reaction certainly suggested that the discussion had moved on.
Asked at the pageant that passed for a press conference at Turnberry during the Ricoh Women’s British Open about the Ailsa Course’s prospects for getting the Open Championship back, Trump had cooled considerably on his previous position that this was only a matter of time.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” he said when asked if recent public pronouncements had harmed the chances of the Open returning to his latest plaything.
“All I can give is the greatest canvas in the world, and this is the greatest canvas in the world, especially when it is renovated and finished the way they (the R&A) wanted it for decades.
“The players consider Turnberry their favourite course so there’s a lot of pressure to come back, and its location is so incredible.
“I think it’s not going to be a problem. I have the US Women’s Open coming up, I have the USPGA Championship coming up, I have a World Championship of golf, we currently have the Women’s British Open. So we have a lot of championships in golf.”
You could analysis Trump’s bizarre 25-minute tirade word by word for odd statements and it would take you a month. But the tenor of his comments on the Open seemed to be clear; the R&A are backing off. And if this circus was anything to go by, they are utterly justified in doing so.
Trump brazenly used the Women’s British Open as a personal promotional tool; partly for his presidential campaign, partly to sell Turnberry, but mostly to sell his name, which is his premier raison d’etre at all times.
It is utterly unthinkable that the R&A could allow the Open Championship to be hi-jacked in a similar way, and impossible to believe that they could stop Trump from doing so if they went back to Turnberry.
When he first came to Scotland, Trump met with R&A chief executive Peter Dawson and asked about getting the Open for his then-unbuilt course near Aberdeen. Politely, Dawson told him there were protocols and traditions that needed to be considered.
Trump went straight out of the meeting into a press conference saying he was “in discussions” with the R&A about hosting the Open.
The R&A would like to go back to Turnberry in the fullness of time. They even recommended Martin Ebert, one of their preferred architects, for the alterations to the course, and Trump enthusiastically hired him.
But the club has played a canny game. They’ve promised him nothing, and while repeating public statements that Turnberry is not off the rota, neither was it between 1994 and 2009, when it didn’t host the championship.
Unlike the women’s game, the Open doesn’t need Trump’s money. With Royal Portrush now added, they’ve already filled the gap in the rota.
Trump’s ultimate dream seemed to be getting his name on the Claret Jug, if only as a host. That surely is never going to happen.