British Open 2024: Why the Open hasn't returned to Muirfield (yet)

TROON, Scotland — Unlike its American major brethren, which have announced their future venues a quarter of a century down the line, the British Open has only its next two years formally booked: Royal Portrush (2025) and Royal Birkdale (2026). Despite the Open rota being (mostly) set in stone, there are a number of questions regarding where the claret jug will visit, and when. One of those questions concerns Muirfield.

The home of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers has hosted the Open 16 times, the last of which came in 2013 when Phil Mickelson turned in a final-round 66 to capture his only Open title. However, after the club voted not to allow female members in 2016 the R&A decided to remove Muirfield from future hosting consideration. With its bluff called, Muirfield recast a vote the following year, welcoming women for the first time in its nearly 300-year history. The R&A promptly stated the club would be back in its rota and in 2022 Muirfield was the site for the AIG Women’s British Open.

Still, as mentioned above, Muirfield remains without a future date. But it doesn’t have much to do with the club itself. Speaking to the media Wednesday at Royal Troon ahead of this week’s Open, departing R&A CEO Martin Slumbers explained the situation.

“Absolutely, we're going back to Muirfield,” Slumbers said. “It's a brilliant golf course. I'll have a little conversation with Mr. Kinnings about maybe moving the Scottish Open from the Renaissance."

Slumbers was referring to Guy Kinnings, who recently took over leadership at the DP World Tour. While Slumbers’ comment was in jest, there is some truth to his words.

For the last six years the Renaissance Club has been home to the Genesis Scottish Open, a co-sanctioned event with the PGA Tour. Renaissance happens to share a property border with Muirfield. Officials from the R&A, the DP World Tour and the town of North Berwick are leery of the stress back-to-back events would have on the local community.

The Renaissance’s Scottish Open contract runs out in 2026, raising the possibility that the tournament moves to another venue, at least for one year to potentially let Muirfield host the Open in 2027. DP World Tour officials have previously considered Cruden Bay as a possible venue, with Castle Stuart and Dumbarnie are also rumored potential host sites.

Sticking on the future venue front, Slumbers was also asked about Portmarnock. The venerable links outside of Dublin has been reportedly circled for a future Open, with Rory McIlroy championing the club’s cause. In his Wednesday presser, Slumbers took a more cautious tone regarding a possible Open visit.

“What we've said about Portmarnock is the club has asked the Irish government for support in putting together a business case to stage our championships on the links, and we are fully supportive of the club doing that, and we are actively engaged in making those assessments,” Slumbers said. “But no decisions have been made because we don't even know if it's possible.”

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Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.

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