MARTIN SLUMBERS, the chief executive of the Royal & Ancient, last night insisted that Donald Trump’s Turnberry remains on the Open Championship’s list of venues but admitted it could be years before the game’s oldest major returns to the storied Ailsa Course.

Trump’s well-documented and controversial views during his increasingly volatile US Presidential campaign have brought Turnberry into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons while the R&A, the organisers of the Open, has come under pressure to ditch the Ayrshire resort from its pool of championship host courses while Trump remains its owner.

While the PGA of America, the PGA Tour and the LPGA Tour have all moved to distance themselves from Trump’s incendiary opinions, the R&A have remained largely tight-lipped and continue to adopt the view that “we don’t think it’s appropriate to comment on politics.”

Officials of the R&A have been accused of avoiding the issue, with many suggesting they should be taking a stand as global guardians of the game.

The fact that future venues of the Open have been named up until 2019 has bought the R&A some time and Slumbers stated that Turnberry has not even been in the discussions as far as the 2020 or 2021 venues are concerned. Reports early in the new year claimed that Turnberry had been dropped from the Open pool but that is not the case.

“We are in advanced negotiations around 2020 and 21, one of which will be in England because we like to get a balance between English courses and Scottish courses,” said Slumbers, who effectively confirmed that St Andrews will come out of its five-year cycle and stage the 150th anniversary Open in 2021. “At no point during those discussions has Turnberry been part of that. 2022 and beyond is something we don’t have to think about for a few years.

“That pool [of courses] has not changed. Turnberry is still part of that pool of courses. We are very focused on the golf, we stay true to the golf and want to put the championship on the best courses. We don’t think it’s appropriate to comment on politics.

“I think Turnberry is a most wonderful course, a brilliant test of links golf and it certainly ranks as one of the 10 best links courses that we have in this country. The quality of the venue has to be one of the major driving forces to where we play. We are asking the very best players in the world to come and put their names to a championship which will be written down in history and we feel deeply that the quality of the golf course and the challenge that we give them should be commensurate with the quality of the players.

“But we are also very focused on the macro-environment and we are aware of that. As an organisation, we have said that we believe golf should be open to all regardless of gender, race, nationality or religion.”

Turnberry last held the Open in 2009 but that was the first time in 15 years that the battle for the Claret Jug had ventured to this neck of the woods. A similar gap, if not longer, for a venue that tends to be the least attended of the 10 Open host courses is the likely scenario.

Slumbers added: “Turnberry has not been a frequent venue, there have been quite a lot of gaps in between, so it would not be unusual. There’s no regular rhythm to what order we take the courses, apart from being conscious of the balance between England and Scotland and taking it to St Andrews on a regular basis.”

While uncertainty surrounds Turnberry’s Open future, Slumber’s expressed his opinion that courses in Scotland which host the game’s most celebrated major shouldn’t hold the Scottish Open. There remains an enthusiasm to showcase the domestic championship on the European Tour around the country’s finest links courses but Slumbers believes the Open venues should remain somewhat sacred.

“The rarity value is actually part of the myth of winning the Open and becoming champion golfer,” he said. “It shouldn't have escaped any of your attentions that quite a few of the players that will tee it up in July at the Open, including very high-ranked players, will have never seen Troon before.

“They'll have never seen the challenge of Troon before. And I think that adds to the sort of myth and the wonder of the Open Championship. I think if you dilute it too much, then it would be to the detriment of the championship, and I don't think I want to be associated with a detriment of our championship. I think it's too important for that.”