Why Muirfield is having to wait until 2027 at earliest to host The Open again

An American golf scribe seemed tickled as he arrived at my desk in the media centre at Royal Liverpool on Saturday morning. “Have you seen this?” he asked in an excited tone and was referring to a post on Muirfield’s Instagram account.

The Claret Jug sits beside the 18th green in front of the clubhouse at Muirfield, where The Open was last held in 2013. Picture: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images.

For starters, I didn’t know the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers had moved into the Instagram era, but that is indeed the case and the post in question was a message related to The Open.

It showed a photograph of the Claret Jug perched beside a bunker at the 18th hole on the East Lothian course with its iconic clubhouse in the background, the accompanying caption reading: ‘Wishing our friends @rlgchoylake and @randa a successful week hosting the 151st Open Championship’.

According to my American colleague, it almost seemed as though it was a case of Muirfield sending a reminder to The R&A because people are wondering when the game’s oldest major will be heading back there. A fortnight ago, the 2026 slot was still a possibility, but that has now been filled by Royal Birkdale, which follow Royal Troon and Royal Portrush in staging the tournament.

There could be two reasons why Muirfield missed out on that one. Firstly, not since 1893 - the first year it was held outside Scotland - has there been a three-year run of the event not being staged in England and, of course, it would have been a Scotland-Ireland-Scotland stretch if Muirfield had been given the nod for 2026.

Secondly, the Genesis Scottish Open is being staged at The Renaissance Club, Muirield’s neighbour, through until 2026 and, though it might have been tempting, two big events back-to-back on the East Lothian coast was probably a non-starter.

In some respects, the world’s top players probably wouldn’t have minded being based at either The Renaissance Club or Archerfield Links for two weeks, both from an accommodation and practising perspective, but it’s probably something that neither The R&A or DP World Tour would have wanted.

The recent edition of the Genesis Scottish Open attracted its biggest attendance since it first started to be played on links courses again in 2011 and, though the crowd for The Open is now drawn from a wide audience around the world, it would have been a gamble that wasn’t worth taking just in case one of the tournaments was adversely affected.

Which could suggest that the Genesis Scottish Open isn’t held at The Renaissance Club in 2027 - a return to Castle Stuart or even a first visit to Dumbarnie Links are suggestions off the top of my head - and that’s when Muirfield hosts its first Open since 2013.

Boy, has the event grown from an infrastructure perspective over the past decade. For last week’s 151st edition, it almost felt as if a small town had been constructed on the Hoylake course and, visually, the whole place looked fantastic.

Troon, of course, has plenty of space to cope with what is heading its way and the Ayrshire club’s captain, John McGregor, and the secretary, Stephen Anthony, were both down at Royal Liverpool getting their appetites whetted.

The ticket ballot for Troon has been running since 27 June and ends on Tuesday. The attendance there in 2016, when Henrik Stenson came out on top in a thrilling duel with Phil Mickelson over the weekend, was 173,134, which was marginally down on the 2004 figure.

After last year’s record figure of 290,000 for the 150th edition then Royal Liverpool hosting 260,000 fans - the biggest for a staging in England - the R&A will surely be looking for 200,000 plus at Troon and, due to the way it is marketed now, that sort of rise from seven years ago should be achievable.

In his annual press conference on the eve of last week’s event, R&A CEO Martin Slumbers reiterated that Turnberry’s wait to host the tournament for the first time since 2009 is not about to end in the near future. "Until we're confident that any coverage at Turnberry would be about golf, about the golf course and about the championship, we will not return any of our championships there,” he said, referring, of course, to the Ayrshire venue, where the Ailsa Course is even better than ever since some changes were made to it by Martin Ebert, being owned by Donald Trump.

Saturday’s conversation with my American colleague also got round to when St Andrews is likely to host its next Open, with a rigid five-year cycle having been in operation since 1990 before 2021 was earmarked for the 150th edition then it was pushed back by a year due to the Covid pandemic.

On that basis, it could be a possibility for 2027, but, speaking about the chances of him playing again on the Old Course, Tiger Woods hinted he’d been told that 2030 was probably going to be the next Open staged on the Old Course.

It was a pity that last week’s event concluded in appalling conditions on the Wirral, where American left-hander Brian Harman effectively putted his rivals into submission, but it was nice to be reminded what a day at The Open means to golf fans. On my train journey from New Brighton early on Saturday morning, it was raining and the forecast was for it to be way worse than it actually turned out for the third round. Yet, despite that, the carriage was filled with excited chatter about the day ahead and that really was brilliant to hear.

Roll on Royal Troon, Royal Portrush, Royal Birkdale and, hopefully, Muirfield.